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THE  : 

FIRST  NEGRO    PRIEST 
ON  SOUTHERN 

■ 

SOIL, 

— :  BY  THE  '•  — 

Rev.  George   F.  Bragg.  D,B,, 

Rector  of  St.  James  First  African  Church 

Baltimore,    Md.,  and  Editor  of  the 

Church  Advocate, 


1 


THE   CHURCH     ADVOCATE    PRINT, 

BALTIMORE,  1909. 


.0. 


COPYRIGHTED    1909    BY    GEORGE  F.  BRAGG  JR. 


> 

C  ■ 


O 

o 

O 


THIS   VOLUME 

IS  ^ 

LOVINGLY  DEDICATED 

TO  THE  BELOVED 

MOTHER  AND  WIFE  OF  THE  AUTHOR, 

WHO, 

MORE    THAN    ANY    OTHER    HUMAN    AGENCY, 

ARE     RESPONSIBLE 

FOR    THE    GOOD    RESULTS 

OF   HIS   MINISTRY. 


Rev.   George   F.   Bragg,   D.   D.,  the   present   Pastor 
of   St.  James'   Church,   Baltimore,   Md. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Some  of  us  believe  that  God's  Church  was 
ordained  and  sent  in  order  that  it  might  build 
up  in  men  such  a  character  as  would  enable 
them  to  be  good  citizens.  Every  man  holding 
such  opinion  must  be  anxious  that  the  colored 
people  in  this  country  should  have  every  pos- 
sible help  that  the  Church  can  give  them  in 
their  courageous  efforts  to  learn  how  to  meet 
their  obligations  as  American  citizens. 

That  a  very  large  proportion  of  this  popu- 
lation appreciates  its  responsibility,  has  a  good 
ambition  to  be  found  worthy  and  has  wrought 
mightily  towards  its  performance  is  showed 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  most  sceptical  by 
the  census  reports  without  reference  to  any 
other.  That  these  have  been  handicapped  in 
a  way  that  makes  those  reports  tell  a  tale  that 
is  simply  heroic  is  equally  patent  to  anyone 
disposed  to  give  honor  where  honor  is  due. 

It  were  a  truism  to  say  that  the  chief  diffi- 
culty confronting  the  colored  citizens  of  the 
United  States  in  their  struggle  to  make  good 
their  own  standing  and  that  of  their  children 
is  that,  in  spite  of  all,  men  continue  to  hold 
them  as  a  race  responsible  for  the  misdeeds 
of  individuals,  and  this  not  because  of  any  ill 
will  against  them  in  the  community  at  large, 
but  because  there  is  so  large  a  proportion  of 
colored  people  who  without  regard  to  the 
righteousness  of  causes  make  common  cause 
with  their  fellows,  even  to  the  point  of  shield- 
ing the  lawless  and  evil  liver.  This  may  be 
readily  understood  and  in  a  sense  pitied,  but 
as  long  as  it  lasts  will  impose  a  heavy  load 
on  those  colored  people  who  deserve  the  re- 
spect of  all  men  because  they  are  self-respect- 
insr. 


6  THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

This  alone  would  make  a  weight  almost  too 
heavy  to  be  borne,  but  it  is  increased  many  fold 
for  the  colored  man  who  is  trying  to  make 
good  by  the  burden  that  must  be  carried  by 
the  colored  people  because  of  the  nation's 
wickedness  in  the  manner  of  their  liberation. 
When  they  were  cast  off  to  shift  for  them- 
selves and  to  become  a  prey  for  any  who  were 
despicable  enough  to  avail  of  their  helpless- 
ness, those  who  were  competent  to  assume  and 
hold  their  position  as  citizens  were  lost  in  the 
multitude  of  those  who  had  not  been  in  Amer- 
ica long  enough  to  become  civilized  or  to 
comprehend  the  meaning  of  citizenship.  Under 
such  circumstances  the  difficulty  attending  the 
career  of  any  colored  man,  however  worthy 
or  competent,  were  all  but  insuperable,  and 
it  is  to  their  enduring  honor  that  in  spite  of 
all  great  numbers  have  won  for  themselves 
and  have  kept  the  respect  and  confidence  of 
the  communities  in  which  they  live. 

The  story  of  St.  James'  Church  in  Balti- 
more, so  graphically  told  now  by  the  Reverend 
Dr.  Bragg,  is  a  striking  illustration  of  the  odds 
against  which  our  colored  fellow  citizens  have 
had  to  contend  in  winning  their  way  to  a  firm 
standing  place.  On  this  account  alone  it 
would  be  well  worth  the  attention  of  any 
American,  but  its  interest  is  enhanced  when 
we  remember  that  the  struggle  described  here 
has  been,  and  even  now  is,  being  repeated  in 
many  places  with  equally  good  hope  of  suc- 
cess, to  the  lasting  honor  of  the  people  who 
can  labor  so  bravely  and  wait  so  patiently  for 
their  reward. 

In  view  of  a  record  like  this,  is  it  not  possi- 
ble that  the  American  Church  might  do  well 
to  leave  off  talking  about  "the  problem  of  the 
colored  people,"  as  though  this  were  a  ques- 
tion outside  the  category  of  the  work  entrusted 
to  the-  Church?     Such  a  phrase  is  apt  to  mis- 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL  7 

lead  and  to  cause  men  to  forget  that  the  only 
problem  here,  as  elsewhere,  is  how  to  make 
God's  people  able  to  realize  practically  the  high 
privilege  of  helping  their  brethren  up  to  a 
safe  standing  ground.  The  difficulties  to  be 
confronted  here,  as  elsewhere,  are  simply  those 
to  be  expected  if  one  would  help  another  who 
only  dimly  discerns  the  blessing  sought  for 
him. 

If  men  are  tempted  to  be  discouraged — nor 
need  any  question  that  the  way  is  long  and 
needs  patience — it  ought  to  be  enough  for 
them  to  recall  the  truly  notable  things  that  have 
been  accomplished  almost  unaided  by  those 
colored  people  whose  fathers  when  freedom 
was  given  them  had  been  in  contact  with  civ- 
ilization long  enough  to  make  them  able  to 
understand  the  responsibilities  as  well  as  the 
privileges  that  liberty  brings. 

For  many  the  way  must  be  long  before  they 
can  learn  what  their  citizenship  means,  and 
they  must  learn  not  in  conditions  likely  to 
make  their  struggle  easier,  but  while  they  con- 
tend against  every  form  of  vice  our  civiliza- 
tion has  brought  into  being.  Surely  in  such  a 
case  God's  Church  at  least  may  be  patient  and 
ready  tc  help  men  fighting  for  more  than  life. 
And  when  the  odds  seem  enough  to  discourage 
those  trying  to  help,  as  well  as  those  in  the 
struggle,  stories  like  this  of  St.  James',  Balti- 
more, will  hearten  both  alike. 

Dr.  Bragg  is  to  be  thanked  for  his  work. 

A.  S.  hhOYD. 


Old    St.   James'    Church    (1826).** 


A  Negro  Priest  in  the  Land  of  Bondage. 

As  the  years  come  and  go,  and  as  the  Epis- 
copal Church  is  more  and  more  extended 
among  the  descendants  of  the  African  race, 
there  will  be  an  increasing  desire  to  go  back 
and  trace  the  origin  of  organized  work  among 
the  Colored  People,  in  the  United  States  of 
America.  While,  from  the  very  first,  the  re- 
ligious interests  of  the  Colored  People  were 
cared  for  in  the  regular  parochial  administra- 
tions, wherein  the  babes  of  Negro  people  were 
duly  baptized,  and  those  who  had  come  to  a 
competent  age  presented  to  the  Bishop  for 
Confirmation,  yet,  it  is  with  respect  to  the 
organization  of  Colored  People  into  parishes 
and  missions  of  their  own  with  which  we  are 
chiefly  concerned.  For  reasons  which  are  self- 
evident  to  all  acquainted  with  the  political 
history  of  the  country,,  up  to  the  period  of 
the  Civil  War,  it  was  hardly  possible  to  or- 
ganize Colored  parishes  in  any  of  the  territory 
south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  there  was  only  one  Negro  church*" 
thus  organized  on  Southern  soil  previous  to 
the  Civil  W^ar.  Hence  as  the  first  of  its  kind 
ever  organized  in  connection  with  the  Protest- 
ant Episcopal  Church,  "the  Mother  Church'' 
among  Negroes,  its  history  is  so  much  the 
more  interesting  and  of  peculiar  value  to  Afro- 
American  Churchmen,  everywhere.  This 
Church  was  St.  James'  First  African  Protest- 
ant Episcopal  Church  in  Baltimore,  Md.  It 
is  most  interesting  to  note  that  the  very  first 
African  Episcopal  Church,  in  America,  was 
organized  in  the  City  of  Philadelphia,  in  1793,. 
by  a  company  of  Negroes  who  had  hitherto 
composed    "The    Free    African    Society,"    and 


10         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

the  first  Negro  to  become  a  priest  in  the  Amer- 
ican Church  was  Absalom  Jones,  the  first  pas- 
tor of  this  same  Church,  who  was  ordained  a 
deacon  in  St.  Thomas'  Church,  an  edifice  in 
which  he  was  largely  instrumental  in  erect- 
ing, by  Bishop  White,  first  Bishop  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  likewise  first  presiding  Bishop 
of  the  American  Church.  In  the  providence 
of  God,  in  this  very  same  Church  building  of 
St.  Thomas,  the  very  next  ordination  which 
took  place,  Bishop  White  officiating,  was  that 
of  William  Levington,  the  founder  and  first 
rector  of  St.  James'  Church,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Thus,  Mr.  Levington  was  the  first  Negro 
missionary  who  dared  to  cross  over  into  slave- 
holding  territory,  and,  under  the  protection 
of  Almighty  God,  in  the  midst  of  the  auction 
block  and  the  slave  pen,  open  a  free  school  for 
Negro  children,  and  establish  St.  James'  First 
African  Church  for  the  benefit  of  both  slave 
and  free  persons  of  color.  Shortly  after  his  or- 
dination by  Bishop  White  he  came  to  the  City 
of  Baltimore  and  surveyed  the  field.  He  re- 
turned to  Philadelphia,  and  after  remaining 
there  for  a  few  weeks  he  came  back  to  Balti- 
more to  begin  his  labors.  He  came  under  his 
own  auspices.  There  was  no  Missionary  So- 
ciety at  his  back.  He  had  no  salary  pledged 
him  ;  he  was  content  to  receive  only  his  board. 
He  was  truly  a  pioneer  missionary,  minded 
to  endure  hardness  as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus 
Christ.  He  at  once  procured  an  "upper  room" 
on  the  corner  of  Marion  and  Park  streets, 
where  he  conducted  a  day  school,  and  held 
religious  worship  on  Sundays.  This  was  in 
June,  1824,  and  in  this  room  the  infant  St. 
James'  Church  remained  until  on  the  31st  day 
of  March,  1827,  the  congregation  worshipped 
under  their  own  vine  and  fig  tree  at  the  cor- 
ner of  North  and  Saratoga  streets.  The  cor- 
ner stone  of  this  first  Negro   Church   erected 


St.  James'   Church,  Baltimore,  Md. 


12         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

on  Southern  soil  was  laid  on  the  10th  of  Oc- 
tober, 1826.  Its  consecration  took  place  by 
Bishop  Kemp,  on  Sunday,  March  31,  1827. 
It  was  a  memorable  day  in  the  annals  of  the 
Church  in  America,  for  it  not  only  told  of 
the  erection  and  occupancy  of  the  first  Negro 
Church  "in  the  land  of  bondage,"  but  it  pro- 
claimed to  all  the  world  that  this  first  victory 
had  been  successfully  achieved  by  a  Negro 
himself,  in  the  midst  of  most  formidable  ob- 
stacles. Thus,  it  was  a  Negro  himself  who 
struck  the  first  ecclesiastical  blow  for  the  ele- 
vation in  Christian  nurture  of  his  own  breth- 
ren. The  Rev.  Dr.  Henshaw,  then  rector  of 
St.  Peter's,  Baltimore,  but  afterwards  the  first 
Bishop  of  Rhode  Island,  preached  the  conse- 
cration sermon.  His  text  was  Gen.  xxiii,  17: 
"This  is  none  other  but  the  House  of  God, 
and  this  is  the  gate  of  Heaven."'  In  the  year 
1829  the  Church  was  duly  incorporated  un- 
der the  laws  of  Maryland.  The  names  of  the 
first  vestrymen  elected  are  as  follows :  Wil- 
liam Levington,  Thomas  H.  Rose,  William 
Warrick,  Philip  Myers,  Levin  Brown,  Henry 
Davis,  Peter  Dennis,  Henry  Johnson.  One 
article  in  the  constitution  adopted  declares : 
"This  Church  shall  ever  be  numbered  with 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States."  Another  article  of  the  same  con- 
stitution also  declares :  "We  ordain  and  de- 
cree, that  none  among  us,  but  men  who  are 
Africans,  or  the  descendants  of  the  race,  can 
elect  or  be  elected  into  any  office  among  us." 
For  the  most  part  the  money  to  pay  for  the 
erection  of  the  Church  was  collected  by  Mr. 
Levington  himself.  To  this  end,  he  made 
some  three  or  four  visits  to  the  North  and 
East.  Dr.  Wyatt,  rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church ; 
Dr.  Henshaw,  rector  of  St.  Peter's  Church, 
and  Dr.  Johns,  of  Christ  Congregation,  as 
well  as  many  reputable  white  laymen  of  Bal- 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL         13 

timore,  rendered  warm  and  hearty  assistance 
to  the  work.  The  struggles  and  difficulties 
were  very  great,  in  view  of  the  general  com- 
ditions  of  that  period,  and  the  illiteracy  of 
the  race.  Bishop  Kemp,  in  making  record  of 
the  consecration  of  the  Church,  says :  "On  the 
31st  of  the  same  month  (March,  1827)  I  con- 
secrated to  the  service  of  Almighty  God,  a 
very  neat  Church  in  the  City  of  Baltimore, 
for  the  use  of  the  people  of  color  under  the 
ministry  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  L,evington.  Morn- 
ing Prayer  was  read  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wyatt, 
and  the  sermon  preached  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Henshaw.  The  congregation  was  large  and  de- 
vout, the  responses  were  well  made  and  the 
chanting  and  singing  quite  delightful."  It 
never  fell  to  the  lot  of  Bishop  Kemp  to  con- 
duct the  first  Confirmation  in  this  Church.  In 
the  fall  of  the  same  year  (1827)  Bishop  Kemp 
visited  Philadelphia  to  take  part  in  the  con- 
secration of  Bishop  Onderdonk,  assistant 
Bishop  of  that  diocese.  In  those  days,  before 
railroads,  the  trip  to  and  from  Philadelphia 
was  made  by  way  of  a  stage  coach,  and  on 
his  return  from  Philadelphia,  from  the  con- 
secration of  Bishop  Onderdonk,  there  was  an 
up-set  of  the  stage  and  the  Bishop  received 
injuries  from  which  he  died.  During  the  year 
following,  Bishop  Onderdonk  made  a  number 
of  Episcopal  visitations  in  Maryland ;  and 
thus  it  happened  that  the  new  assistant 
Bishop  of  Pennsylvania  held  the  first  Con- 
firmation service  in  the  first  Negro  Church, 
on  Southern  soil,  the  candidates  being  pre- 
sented by  a  Negro  priest.  The  date  of  this 
service  was  December  12,  1828,  and  thirteen 
persons    received   the   holy   rite. 

Aggravating  the  many  natural  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  the  extension  and  growth  of  this 
Negro  congregation,  there  was  a  peculiar  one 
from  within  which  gave  much  serious  trouble, 


14         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

and  which  was  destined  to  harass  and  vex 
continually  the  peace  and  life  of  the  little 
band.  And  this  same  difficulty  has  existed 
from  the  very  beginning  of  the  work  until 
comparatively  recent  years,  and  the  past 
struggles  and  hardships  of  the  work  should 
be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  this  disturbing 
element.  To  state  it  nakedly  and  plainly,  it 
was  a  "caste  feeling''  existing  on  the  part  of 
the  "free  Negroes"  towards  their  brethren  in 
bondage.  Mr.  Levington  was  resolutely  and 
firmly  set  against  a  tolerance  of  this  "caste- 
spirit."  He,  a  free  man  of  color,  from  the 
North,  and  a  priest,  had  come  South  to  help 
his  brethren,  both  bond  and  free,  and  it  was 
entirely  out  of  the  question  with  him  to  com- 
promise with  •  this  wicked  spirit.  But  this 
spirit  of  exclusion  of  Negroes  on  the  part  of 
Negroes  was  strong  and  vigorous,  and  there 
can  hardly  be  any  doubt  but  that  the  pressure 
laid  upon  him,  in  this  direction,  together  with 
his  many  other  burdens,  hastened  his  early 
death.  To  the  Diocesan  Convention  of  Mary- 
land, of  1834,  he  made  the  following  report,  in 
which  is  a  direct  allusion  to  the  above  trouble. 
He  said :  "The  rector  of  St.  James'  First  Afri- 
can Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  City 
of  Baltimore  reports  that  the  Church  was 
happily  reared  at  the  expense  of  $2,300.  The 
rector  has  visited  the  Northern  and  Eastern 
States  the  third  time,  and  solicited  aid  for  the 
Church,  to  exonerate  her  of  debt ;  and  his 
last  visit  was  made  during  the  past  summer, 
and  on  his  return,  January  1,  1834,  he  paid 
six  hundred  and  ten  dollars  of  the  debt,  and 
also  got  the  Church  insured  until  Janaury  1, 
1841.  The  debt  now  against  the  Church  is 
$673.37.     The  rector  would  say,  that  although 

the  constitution  of  the  Church  gives  to  those 

of  his  brethren,  who  are  in  bondage,  the  right 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL         15 

of  membership  in  the  Church,  much  dissatis- 
faction has  prevailed  among  some  of  his  free 
brethren ;  yet,  with  the  blessing  of  the  great 
Head  of  the  Church,  it  has  been  happily  and 
finally  settled.  He  thanks  God  that  he  has 
long  since  seen  that  a  Gospel  Christian  bonds- 
man will  be  a  righteous  servant,  and,  for  this 
and  other  reasons,  he  does  not  forget  to  in- 
struct them  in  the  exercises  of  the  sanctuary ; 
for  he  remembers  them  that  are  in  bonds,  as 
bound  with  them." 

"There  is  taught  in  this  Church  by  the  rec- 
tor, a  week-day  and  Sabbath  school,  which 
are  both  well  attended.  The  number  of  mar- 
riages, baptisms,  and  burials,  the  rector  has 
not  a  correct  account.  The  responses  are 
made0  audibly  and  with  much  apparent  de- 
votion." 

This  faithful  and  pioneer  Missionary,  two 
years  later,  in  May,  1836,  fell  on  sleep.  But 
ere  his  departure  he  had  begotten  two  Negro 
Missionaries,  one  of  whom  we  shall  speak  of  at 
present,  the  other,  later  on.  We  called  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  the  "Mother  Church  of 
St.  Thomas,"  Philadelphia,  had  given  her  first 
son  to  this  work  of  "opening  up"  the  work 
in  the  South.  When  William  Levington  knelt 
upon  the  same  spot  to  be  ordained  where  Ab- 
salom Jones  had  knelt  thirty  years  before. 
Jones  had  been  dead  for  about  six  years,  and 
the  "Mother  Church"  was  still  without"  a  rec- 
tor; and  the  only  colored  man  in  holy  orders, 
at  that  time,  was  the  Rev.  Peter  Williams, 
rector  of  St.  Philip's,  New  York.  Unknown 
to  Mr.  Levington  at  the  time  of  his  ordina- 
tion, yet  it  was  a  fact  as  subsequently  re- 
vealed, he  was  going  on  a  mission  not  simply 
to  open  up  the  work  on  slave  territory,  but 
also  to  discover  the  successor  to  Absalom 
Jones,  as  the  second  rector  of  the  Church  in 
which   he  was   now  being  onlained.      During 


m 


The  late   Rev.  William   Douglass. 


THE  FIRST  OX  SOUTHERN  SOIL         17 

the  early  years  of  Mr.  L,evington's  ministry 
in  Baltimore,  there  was  a  colored  man  who 
kept  a  blacksmith  shop  on  Light  street,  by 
the  name  of  Douglass.  This  Air.  Douglass 
had  a  son  by  the  name  of  William  Douglass, 
who  was  an  itinerant  Methodist  preacher. 
Through  the  influence  of  Air.  Levington  and 
St.  James'  African  Church,  this  young  Mr. 
Douglass  found  his  wray  into  the  Church. 
His  ordination,  however,  did  not  occur  in  St. 
James'  Church.  He  was  at  work  in  Cecil 
county,  Md.,  and  it  was  at  that  place  that 
this  most  important  event  occurred.  We 
say  important  event,  for,  so  far  as  we  have 
been  able  to  discover,  the  ordination  of  Wil- 
liam Douglass  was  the  very  first  ordination 
of  a  colored  man  in  the  Episcopal  Church  on 
Southern  soil ;  and  it  is  so  much  the  more 
noteworthy  because  the  ordination  took  place 
in  a  white  congregation  by  Bishop  Stone  who, 
himself,  was  a  native  of  Maryland.  Bishop 
Stone  makes  the  following  entry  in  his  jour- 
nal with  respect  to  this  ordination.  He  says : 
"On  Sunday,  22  (June,  1834),  I  preached 
in  St.  Stephen's  parish,  Cecil  county  (Sassa- 
fras Xeck),  and  admitted  to  the  order  of  Dea- 
cons William  Douglass  (a  colored  man),  and 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  I  confirmed 
three  persons.  *  *  *  Many  persons  who  were 
present  never  before  witnessed  an  ordination, 
and  I  am  sure  that  the  impression  made  upon 
their  minds  was  favorable  to  the  Church  and 
her  institutions.  In  the  afternoon,  by  pre- 
vious arrangement,  the  Church  was  given  up 
to  the  Colored  people,  and  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Douglass  preached  to  them  an  interesting 
sermon." 

Shortly  after  his  ordination  Mr.  Douglass 
removed  to  the  City  of  Philadelphia,  where 
he  took  charge  of  St.  Thomas'  Church,  his 
first   and  only  charge,  covering  a  ministry  of 


18         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

nearly  thirty  years.  Mr.  Douglass  was  ele- 
vated to  the  priesthood  on  the  14th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1836,  in  St.  Thomas'  Church,  Philadel- 
phia. The  record  of  this  event  by  the  Bishop 
officiating,  the  Rt.  Rev.  H.  U.  Onderdonk, 
is  certainly  interesting.  Bishop  Onderdonk 
says  : 

"On  Sunday,  February  14th,  in  St.  Thomas' 
(African)  Church,  Philadelphia,  I  admitted 
the  Rev.  William  Douglass,  deacon,  to  the 
holy  order  of  Priests.  Mr.  Douglass  is  a  man 
of  colour ;  and  I  take  this  opportunity  of  re- 
cording my  very  favorable  estimate  of  his 
highly  respectable  intellect,  and  most  amia- 
ble qualities,  which  entirely  relieved  my  mind, 
in  his  case,  from  the  anxieties  I  had  long  felt 
in  reference  to  this  department  of  Episcopal 
duty.  He  ministers  to  a  congregation  at 
unity  in  itself,  much  attached  to  him,  and  im- 
proving, under  his  pastoral  care,  in  the  prin- 
ciples and  duties  of  our  common  Christianity." 

When  that  great  Bishop  and  ever-loving 
friend  of  the  black  race,  Alonzo  Potter,  of 
Pennsylvania,  had  called  to  order  the  Dio- 
cesan Convention  of  1862,  Mr.  Douglass  had 
been  translated  to  the  rest  of  Paradise ;  and 
Bishop  Potter,  in  referring  to  him,  said :  "It 
hath  pleased  the  Lord  to  call  away  from  the 
Church  Militant  the  Rev.  William  Douglass, 
rector  of  St.  Thomas'  African  Church,  in  this 
city,  where  he  has  ministered  for  the  last 
twenty-seven  years — a  man  of  great  mod- 
esty, of  ripe  scholarship,  and  of  much  more 
than  ordinary  talents  and  prudence.  He  is, 
as  far  as  I  am  informed,  the  only  clergyman 
of  unmixed  African  descent  who,  in  this  coun- 
try, has  published  works  of  considerable  mag- 
nitude. In  two  volumes,  one  of  sermons,  and 
one  a  history  of  St.  Thomas'  Church,  he  has 
vindicated  his  right  to  appear  among  our  re- 
spected divines.  As  a  reader  of  the  Liturgy 
he   was   unsurpassed." 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL         19 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  dwell  upon  the 
services  of  the  late  Rev.  Mr.  Douglass  on  be- 
half of  St.  Thomas'  Church.  The  one  single 
point  we  desire  to  emphasize  is,  that  it  "is 
more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive."  Ob- 
serve the  stream  of  blessedness  issuing  from 
the  gift  of  Levington.  As  St.  James'  Church, 
Baltimore,  will  forever  enjoy  the  distinction 
of  being  the  "Mother  Parish"  of  Afro-Ameri- 
can Churchmen,  in  all  the  Southland,  so  will 
it  ever  be  known  that  William  Douglass  of 
Maryland  was  the  first  Negro  to  enter  the 
ministry  on  Southern  soil. 


CHAPTER  II. 

A   Southern   White   Priest   the   Savior  of   the 
Cross  Uplifted. 

The  year  1836  witnessed  the  translation  to 
Paradise  of  William  Ivevington,  founder  and 
first  rector  of  St.  James';  pjaltimore.  This 
poor  Negro  priest  who  had  given  his  life  as 
a  willing  sacrifice  for  his  race,  and  although 
he  had  enriched  others^  when  he  died  was  so 
utterly  poor  that  he  had  not  sufficient  means 
to  lay  away  decently  his  mortal  remains.  But 
Dr.  Henshaw,  rector  of  St.  Peter's,  always 
the  warm  and  loving  friend  of  this  work  and 
this  people,  not  only  procured  a  decent  burial 
of  his  remains,  but  himself  officiated  and  com- 
mitted to  Mother  Earth  all  that  was  mortal 
of  that  noble  pioneer  Missionary  of  the  black 
race.  The  death  of  Mr.  Levington,  and  the 
great  "flood"  of  the  same  year,  almost  wiped 
out  of  existence  St.  James'  Church. 

Just  about  this  time,  over  on  the  old  Sem- 
inary Hill,  near  Alexandria,  Va.,  there  was  be- 
ing manifested  intense  missionary  fervor  and 


20         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

enthusiasm  with  respect  to  the  foreign  mis- 
sions of  the  Church.  Numbers  of  the  students 
had  given  themselves  for  work  in  China, 
Japan,  Africa  and  elsewhere.  And  still  the 
fever  had  not  abated.  Among  the  number 
of  students  there  was  one  young,  handsome 
and  earnest  fellow  of  the  very  best  family  and 
rearing.  He  wanted  to  go  to  Africa,  but  Dr. 
Sparrow  pointed  out  to  him  how  well  he 
could  serve  the  African  race  right  at  his 
door,  by  saving  from  destruction  the  poor 
little  African  congregation  of  St.  James,  in 
Baltimore.  And  so  Joshua  Peterkin  deter- 
mined, by  the  help  of  God,  that  he  would 
be  the  "savior"  of  St.  James-  Church.  The 
author  received  this  story  from  the  sainted 
lips  of  the  venerable  Dr.  Peterkin  years  be- 
fore he  had  learned  of  the  existence  of  St. 
James'  Church,  having  not  the  remotest  idea, 
at  that  time,  that  he  would  become  a  succes- 
sor of  that  godly  and  most  loveable  man. 
And  thus  it  happened  that  Dr.  Joshua  Peter- 
kin, who  should  in  after  years  have  very 
much  to  do  with  the  Colored  work  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  especially  with  the  founding  of  an 
institution  for  the  preparation  of  Colored 
men  for  the  ministry,  began  his  work  in  the 
ministry  by  pastoring  and  saving  the  first  or- 
ganized effort  among  Negroes  in  the  South. 
The  ordination  of  Dr.  Peterkin  was  hastened 
in  order  that  he  might  take  charge  of  this 
"work  at  the  earliest  opportunity.  How  Dr. 
Peterkin  felt  for  and  sympathized  with  the 
members  of  his  Negro  congregation  can  read- 
ily be  inferred  from  the  following  extract 
from  his  report  to  the  diocesan  convention  of 
1838.     He  says: 

"The  present  pastor  has  had  charge  of  this 
congregation  for  about  ten  months,  during 
which  time  he  has  had  much  to  encourage 
him,   and   has   been   strengthened   in   his   con- 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL        21 

victions  that  the  class  of  population  of  which 
it  is  composed  has  the  highest  claims  upon 
his  sympathy,  and  affords  a  field  for  exertion 
than  which  there  can  be  none  more  important. 
He  found  the  Church  in  a  very  feeble  state — 
partly  from  the  privation  of  regular  services 
for  some  months  after  the  death  of  the  former 
pastor,  the  Rev.  Air.  Levington,  but  more 
especially  because  "No  man  cared  for  the 
souls  of  its  members."  Through  much,  effort 
and  the  assistance  of  the  rectors  of  St.  Peter's 
and  Christ  Church,  of  this  city,  he  has  suc- 
ceeded in  paying  off  more  than  $200  of  the 
debt  under  which  the  congregation  has  long 
been  languishing,  and  he  trusts  that  by  Di- 
vine blessing,  should  he  be  privileged  to  make 
another  report,  he  will  be  enabled  to  state 
that  the  remainder  of  about  $350,  has  been 
entirely  liquidated.  The  rector  could  say 
much  in  reference  to  this  subject,  but  fears 
that  he  might  not  speak  or  write  with  suffi- 
cient composure — yet  he  may  surely  express 
his  surprise  and  regret,  that  this  congregation 
has  been  so  long  allowed  to  struggle,  unaided, 
for  existence,  when  if  properly  sustained  by 
the  Episcopalians  of  the  diocese,  its  good  in- 
fluence might  extend  to  one-fourth  of  the  en- 
tire population  of  this  great  city.  Present 
number  of  communicants,  27;  marriages,  3; 
funerals,  2.  The  Sunday  School  is  in  an  in- 
teresting condition,  and  affords  encourage- 
ment." 

The  next  year  Dr.  Peterkin  reported  to  the 
Convention :  ''The  rector  has  the  gratifica- 
tion to  report  that  the  debt  incurred  by  the 
erection  of  St.  James'  Church  is  now  entirely 
liquidated.  The  congregation  whose  embar- 
rassed affairs  have,  for  a  period  of  twelve 
years,  threatened  its  dissolution  is  at  length 
free,  and  we  are  privileged  to  call  the  temple 
in   which   we   worship   our  own.      Our   devout 


22         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

thanks  are  due  Almighty  God,  and  to  our 
friends  in  this  city  and  elsewhere,  for  the 
timely  assistance  afforded  us,  without  which 
the  congregation  could  scarcely  now  be  in 
existence."  During  the  next  year  Dr.  Peter- 
kin  resigned  the  work  to  assume  the  charge 
of  St.  Andrew's  Church,  which  was  just  be- 
ing formed.  The  Rev.  Thomas  Quinan  had 
charge  of  the  Church  for  a  short  while,  but 
in  1841  Mr.  J.  N.  Mcjilton,  a  layreader  and 
candidate  for  orders,  took  charge,  and  soon 
afterwards  he  was  ordained.  With  Mr.  Mc- 
jilton we  enter  upon  the  longest  rectorship 
of  any  during  the  history  of  the  Church,  save 
the  present  rectorship.  Just  here  we  might 
remark  that  the  first  recorded  marriage  on 
the  old  parish  register  is  that  of  Cornelius 
Thompson  and  Catherine  Braco,  which  was 
solemnized  by  Dr.  Peterkin  in  1838.  Mrs. 
Thompson  we  have  known  quite  intimately, 
and,  in  recent  years,  have  laid  her  remains  to 
rest.  She  was  the  first  person  whose  funeral 
took  place  from  the  present  St.  James'  Church. 
She  was  nearly  ninety  years  of  age  when  she 
died,  and  was  a  remarkably  intelligent  old 
woman.  She  knew  Mr.  Levington,  as  well 
as  Dr.  Peterkin,  and  was  full  of  interesting 
reminiscences.  The  first  babe  baptized  by  us 
on  coming  to  Baltimore  was  one  of  her  great- 
grandsons. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Good  Work  of  Another  White  Son  of  the 
South  Among  His  Black  Brethren. 

The  rectorship  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mcjilton 
continued  until  1857,  and  it  was  characterized 
with  much  vigorous  and  aggressive  work.  We 
have  already  referred  to  the  first  ordination 
in  the  State  of  Maryland,  of  a  colored  man ; 
we  are  now  about  to  refer  to  the  first  ordina- 
tion to  take  place  in  St.  James'  Church.  One 
of  the  communicants  coming  over  from  the 
time  of  Mr.  Eevington,  some  of  the  fruit  of 
his  labors,  was  Eli  Worthington  Stokes,  who, 
for  some  time,  had  been  in  training  for  the 
ministry.  Bishop  Whittingham  had  then 
come  to  the  diocese.  During  the  vacancy  in 
the  Maryland  Episcopate,  before  the  election 
of  Dr.  Whittingham,  Bishop  George  Wash- 
ington Doane,  of  New  Jersey,  being  provis- 
ional Bishop  of  Maryland,  visited  St.  James' 
Church  on  two  different  occasions ;  on  one 
occasion  confirming  a  class. 

Two  notable  occurrences  took  place  in  the 
little  Church  during  the  year  1843.  One  was 
a  unique  Confirmation  service  by  Bishop 
Whittingham.  Some  half  a  dozen  or  more 
Negro  slaves  from  one  of  the  counties  were 
brought  by  their  "master,"  who  himself  was 
a  priest  of  the  Church,  and  by  him  presented 
to  the  Bishop  for  Confirmation ;  and  upon 
their  Confirmation  they  were  set  free,  and,  a 
few  days  later,  they  sailed  for  Maryland  in 
Africa. 

On  October  1,  1843,  Mr.  Stokes  was  or- 
dained. Says  Bishop  Whittingham  :  "On  the 
16th  Sunday  after  Trinity,  Oct.  1,  at  a  spe- 
cial  ordination   held    in    St.    James'   First   Af- 


2*         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

rican  Church,  in  Baltimore,  I  admitted  to  the 
holy  order  of  Deacons,  Elie  Worthington 
Stokes,  a  colored  man  presented  by  the  Rev. 
J.  N.  Mcjilton.  His  case  involving  some  pe- 
culiarities, 1  consulted  on  it  both  the  Stand- 
ing Committee  and  a  council  of  Presbyters 
specially  convened ;  and  acted  finally  under 
the  advice  of  both.  Mr.  Stokes  renders  oc- 
casional services  to  the  colored  congregation 
of  St.  James."  During  this  same  year  Mr. 
Harrison  Holmes  Webb  was  confirmed  and 
was  licensed  as  a  layreader  assisting  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Mcjilton. 

But  we  must  turn  aside  and  follow  the 
movements  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stokes.  Shortly 
after  his  ordination,  in  October,  1843,  Mr. 
Stokes  goes  to  New  Haven,  Conn.,  and  with 
the  colored  communicants  secured  from  the 
various  white  congregations  the  colored  par- 
ish of  St.  Luke's  Church  was  organized  in 
June,  1844,  and  it  was  immediately  received 
into  union  with  the  Diocesan  Convention  of 
Connecticut.  During  the  next  two  years  he 
was  elevated  to  the  Priesthood  by  the  Bishop 
of  Connecticut.  In  the  meantime.  Dr.  Hen- 
shaw,  formerly  of  Baltimore,  and  a  warm 
friend  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stokes,  had  been  made 
Bishop  of  Rhode  Island.  A  few  years  before, 
upon  his  ordination  in  Boston,  Dr.  Alexander 
Crummell  had  proceeded  to  Providence,  R.  I., 
where  he  initiated  Christ  Church,  which 
had  also  been  received  as  a  parish  in  union 
with  the  convention  of  Rhode  Island.  Dr. 
Crummell  had  given  up  this  work,  and  so  Mr. 
Stokes  was  called  to  the  rectorship  of  Christ 
Church,  Providence.  Hence  he  leaves  New 
Haven  and  accepts  the  work  in  Providence. 
The  various  references  of  Bishop  Henshaw 
to   Christ   Church,   and   the   Rev.    Mr.    Stokes, 

are   exceedingly  pleasant  and  interesting.     In 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL        25 

his    first    report   to    the    Diocesan    Convention 
of  Rhode  Island,  in  1846,  Mr.  Stokes  says: 

"T  commenced  my  labors  in  this  parish  the 
29th  of  May  last  past,  and  have  continued  the 
regular  services  of  the  Church  three  times  on 
every  Lord's  Day,  and  on  every  Friday  even- 
ing. I  am  encouraged  by  the  prompt  attend- 
ance of  the  congregation,  who  are  now  very 
anxious  to  liquidate  the  debt  on  their  Church 
edifice ;  and  are  willing  to  do  all  that  is  within 
their  power  to  accomplish  that  laudable  ob- 
ject; and  from  their  prompt  response  to  a 
call  that  I  made  on  them,  to  contribute  some- 
thing towards  the  payment  of  the  debt  on 
the  Church  edifice,  before  the  sitting  of  the 
Convention,  which  resulted  in  the  sum  of 
$22.25,  at  only  two  collections,  I  feel  so  far 
encouraged  as  to  recommend  them  to  the 
sympathies  of  the  diocese  generally  *  *  *" 
Mr.  Stokes  reported  thirty  communicants,  and 
he  also  adds,  "The  congregation  in  regular 
attendance  is  from  eighty  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty,  especially  in  the  afternoon  and  evening. 
Being  persuaded  of  the  future  prosperity  of 
the  parish  I  cheerfully  commend  it  to  the 
Godly  consideration  of  the  different  parishes, 
praying  Almighty  God  to  aid  us,  in  blessing 
the  humble  effort,  by  giving  us  favor  in  the 
sight  of  the  rich."  The  work  continued  to 
progress  under  the  heavy  debt  resting  upon 
it.  But  the  members  being  few  and  poor, 
and  Mr.  Stokes  unable  to  sufficiently  interest 
the  white  churchmen  of  Rhode  Island  in  con- 
tributing the  necessary  money  to  free  it  from 
debt,  he  undertook  a  mission  to  England  to 
raise  the  necessary  money,  with  what  success 
shall  be  told  in  the  words  of  Bishop  Hen- 
shaw.  Bishop  Henshaw,  in  his  Episcopal  ad- 
dress to  the  Convention  of  1849,  referred  to 
the  matter  as  follows  : 


26        THE  FIRST  ON  SOyTHERN  SOIL 

"At  the  time  of  the  meeting  of  the  last  con- 
vention   the    Rev.    Eli    W.    Stokes,    rector    of 
Christ  Church,  in  this  city,  was  absent  in  Eu- 
rope   for    the    purpose    of    soliciting"    funds    to 
liquidate   the   debt   by   which   that   parish   has 
been    embarrassed    ever   since    their    house    of 
worship    was    erected.      In    consequence    of    a 
certificate,   required   by  the  laws   of   England, 
furnished  by  me,  he  was  received  with  great 
kindness    by    the    Archbishops,    Bishops    and 
Clergy    of    our    Mother    Church ;    and    I    am 
happy    to    inform    you    that    his    mission    was 
crowned   with   entire   success,   and   the   liberal 
contributions   which   he    received   in   that   dis- 
tant   land   have    enabled   the   gentlemen   hold- 
ing  the    property    in    trust    to    make    a    satis- 
factory settlement  with  the  mortgagees.     The 
congregation  is  now  free  from  debt,  and  our 
colored  brethren  have  wisely  made  over  their 
corporate  property  to  the  'Board  of  Commis- 
sioners for  Church  Buildings'  with  a  view  of 
security    against    embarrassment    and    incum- 
brance for  the  time  to  come.     The  Christian 
generosity   with   which    our   English   brethren 
answered  the  appeal  made  to  them  in  behalf 
of  that  feeble  parish  has  been  duly  acknowl- 
edged   in    a    letter    addressed    by    me    to    His 
Grace,    the    Archbishop    of    Canterbury,    and, 
through   him,   to   the    Church    over   which    he 
worthily  presides." 

A  Missionary  to  Africa. 

But  alas,  for  our  poor  people :  too  few  and 
poor  were  they  to  provide  a  support  for  their 
faithful  minister,  who  had  done  such  great 
things  for 'them;  and  unable  to  receive  suffi- 
cient assistance  from  the  white  communi- 
cants of  Rhode  Island,  the  very  next  year 
finds  Air.  Stokes  accepting  work  in  the  Af- 
rican field.  He  was  a  faithful  and  hard-work- 
ing Missionary  in  that  distant  field.  He  re- 
turned to  America,  at  least  once,  and  preached 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL         27 

in  the  old  Church  where  he  had  been  or- 
dained to  the  diaconate  by  Bishop  Whitting- 
ham.  He  went  back  to  Africa,  where  he  re- 
mained bravely  at  his  post  until  the  Good 
Lord  called  him  home  to  rest.  His  passing 
into  Paradise  was  communicated  to  the 
"Spirit  of  Missions,"  under  date  of  February 
27,  1867,  from  which  we  extract  the  follow- 
ing: 

''His  death  will  be  greatly  felt  just  now  in 
our  Mission.  Mr.  Stokes  was  a  thorough- 
going, energetic,  working  old  man.  He  went 
to  Crozerville  with  his  heart  set  to  make  and 
leave  the  work  of  his  Divine  Master's  hand 
upon  the  place.  He  died  in  the  faith  of  the 
Gospel  he  had  preached.  Though  Mr.  Stokes 
was  not  a  strong  and  able-bodied  man,  he 
was  full  of  faith  and  abounded  in  charity  to- 
wards the  poor.  How  often  he  has  divided 
his  last  crust  of  bread,  God  only  knows.  It 
appears  to  us,  that  on  these  points,  he  never 
calculated  his  own  interests.  He  was  reduced 
more  by  the  want  of  the  real  necessities  of  life 
at  last,  than  by  sickness,  is  the  opinion  of  the 
doctors  and  all  who  saw  and  attended  him. 
Nourishment  could  not  rally  his  exhausted 
strength.  The  people  of  his  own  parish  were 
very  poor,  and  EH  W.  Stokes  was  not  the 
man  to  look  upon  this  and  not  act.  The  peo- 
ple at  Crozerville  had  already  learned  to  love 
and  respect  him.  His  work  told  that  he  was 
on  the  ground.  He  had  established  day  and 
Sabbath  Schools,  and  preached  and  held  serv- 
ices at  Crozerville  and  Carysburg.  He  was 
found  in  a  hut,  lying  on  a  mat.  and  an  old 
blanket  under  his  head.  Air.  David,  senior 
warden  of  St.  John's,  New  York,  heard  of 
his  illness  and  visited  him ;  he  was  brought 
in  almost  a  dying  state  to  his  house.  Dr. 
McGill,   of  the  firm   of  McGill   Brothers,  was 


28         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

soon  on  the  ground  (eighteen  miles  from 
Monrovia)  with  such  nourishments  which 
would,  it  was  hoped,  bring  him  upon  his 
feet  again.  The  doctor  repeated  the  visit, 
and  Mr.  David,  wife  and  friends,  did  all  that 
could  be  done,  but  he  sank  until  the  26th  of 
February  and  died.  Nearly  all  his  talk,  as 
long  as  he  could  talk,  and  when  he  could  not 
be  understood,  seemed  to  be  of  the  Mission- 
ary work  here,  and  the  troubles  that  retarded 
it.  He  was  buried  at  Woodlawn,  by  a  brook, 
under  a  Palm  tree." 

Thus  ended  the  mortal  life  of  the  first 
clerical  Missionary  sent  out  from  the  first' 
Negro  parish  on  Southern  soil.  If  St.  James' 
Church,  Baltimore,  during  all  its  history,  had 
only  given  birth  to  this  one  grand  pioneer  in 
the  home  and  foreign  fields,  its  existence 
would  have  been  more  than  justified. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Witnessing  for  Christ  and  Uplifting  the  Race. 

Mr.  Harrison  H.  Webb,  who  had  been  li- 
censed as  a  layreader  the  same  year  Mr. 
Stokes  was  ordained  to  the  diaconate,  in  due 
season  was  made  deacon,  becoming  the  as- 
sistant of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mcjilton,  and  the 
teacher  of  the  day  school  carried  on  in  con- 
nection with  St.  James'  Church.  In  such  ca- 
pacity he  remained  until  the  year  1857,  when, 
at  Mr.  Mcjilton's  request,  he  was  elected  by 
the  vestry  his  successor.  During  the  assist- 
antship  of  Mr.  Webb  a  great  deal  of  con- 
strucive  work  on  behalf  of  the  colored  com- 
munity was  realized.  A  monument  of  such 
work  is  the  present  St.  James'  Protestant 
Episcopal  Male  Beneficial  Society  which  was 
organized  by   Mr.   Webb  as  a  parish   society. 


The  late  Rev.   Harrison  H.  Webb. 


30         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

It  was  such  a  needed  and  helpful  agency  that 
its  benefits  were  extended  to  all  respectable 
colored  men  whether  members  of  St.  James' 
Church  or  not.  Thus,  today,  while  it  is  nom- 
inally a  parish  institution,  it  is  practically  an 
outside  agency.  From  time  to  time  this  so- 
ciety has  comprehended  in  its  fold  many  of 
the  worthiest  and  most  influential  colored 
men  in  the  City  of  Baltimore. 

About  this  same  period  an  organ  for  the 
first  time  was  introduced  in  connection  with 
the  worship  of  the  Church,  at  St.  James.  This 
was  a  real  "novelty,"  and  invited  strong  de- 
nunciations from  the  colored  churches  of  the 
city.  Reproachful  and  sneering  terms  were 
applied  to  the  Church  because  of  this  intro- 
duction into  the  public  services  of  the  Church, 
the  "devil's  music  box."  Thus.,  the  Church 
was  an  early  witness  for  musical  accessories 
in  divine  service,  as  well  as  for  order  and 
-decorum  in  public  worship.  The  indirect  in- 
fluence of  St.  James  has  been  very  great  in 
this  city,  as  the  marvellous  changes  in  the 
conduct  of  services  in  colored  churches  wit- 
nesseth. 

In  the  year  1852,  under  the  rectorship  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Mcjilton,  the  second  story  was 
added  to  the  "old  church"  at  North  and  Sara- 
toga streets,  but  it  was  not  until  March,  1854, 
that  it  was  formally  re-opened  and  dedicated. 
During  this  same  year  Mr.  Harrison  H.  AVebb 
was  ordained  deacon  by  Bishop  Whittingham. 
The  visit  of  Bishop  Whittingham  for  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  enlarged  Church  was  a  memora- 
ble one. 

Bishop  Whittingham  was  a  sincere  and 
ever-devoted  friend  of  the  Colored  People, 
and  a  friend  in  particular  of  St.  James'  con- 
gregation. His  visit  of  Sunday  morning, 
March  19,  1854,  made  such  a  profound  im- 
pression upon  him   that  he   was   immediately 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL        31 

moved  to  put  forth  serious  effort  towards  se- 
curing another  church  building  for  a  colored 
congregation,  to  be  reared  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Fell's  Point.  As  a  result  of  the 
effort,  St.  Matthew's  Church,  later,  came  into 
existence.  Fresh  from  the  services  at  St. 
James'  Church  he  went  immediately  home 
and  penned  the  following  circular  letter  ad- 
dressed to  the  various  white  parishes  men- 
tioned therein.  This  letter  is  certainly  indica- 
tive of  the  strong  feeling  and  warm  attach- 
ment of  the  Bishop  with  respect  to  the  work 
among  the  Colored  People : 

BISHOP    WHITTINGHAM'S    LETTER. 

Rev.   and  Dear   Brother   and   Dear   Brethren: 

An  extraordinary  coincidence  of  duty  and  oppor- 
tunity occasions  this  appeal  to  you  in  a  somewhat 
unusual  mode. 

In  the  course  of  official  duty  it  was  my  privilege 
this  morning  to  comply  with  the  request  of  the 
rector  and  vestry  of  St.  James'  (First  African) 
Church  in  this  cit}^  to  dedicate  with  solemn  serv- 
ice the  new  story  which  they  erected  some  two 
years  ago  upon  the  substructure  of  their  old  and 
formerly  consecrated  church  edifice,  and  for  which 
they  have   at  last   completed   payment. 

I  need  not  inform  you  how  much  credit  the  neat, 
commodious  and  greatly  enlarged  and  improved 
place  of  worship  which  they  now  enjoy  does  to 
the  zeal,  diligence  and  untiring  perseverance  of  our 
colored  brethren,  by  which  a  work  so  great  for 
them  at  last  has  been  brought  to  an  issue  so  suc- 
cessful. 

You  know,  too,  as  well  as  I,  with  how  many  dif- 
ficulties this  congregation  has  had  to  struggle  dur- 
ing the  twenty-seven  years  that  have  now  elapsed 
since   the   consecration   of  its   little   church. 

During  that  time  it  has  regularly  furnished  its 
full  quota  of  additions  to  the  Church  in  the  Sacra- 
ment of  Baptism,  the  Rite  of  Confirmation  and  the 
admission  to  the  Holy  Communion,  and  has  con- 
tributed to  the  Holy  Ministry  two  members,  one 
of  whom  is  now  laboring  in  Africa;  the  other, 
while  sustaining  himself  by  teaching  a  school  in 
the  lower  story  of  the  present  building,  is  officiat- 
ing with  acceptance  and  success  in  the  diaconate, 
as  assistant  minister  of  the   congregation. 


32         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

The  rector,  as  you  also  know,  is  one  of  the 
most  laboriously  faithful  and  efficient  of  our 
clergy,  whose  living,  mainly  earned  in  hard  serv- 
ice in  another  office, -can  hardly  be  said  to  be  eked 
out  by  the  pittance  (less  than  $100  per  annum) 
which  he  has  received  from  one  of  our  city  con- 
gregations, in  consideration  of  his  services  to  their 
colored  brethren. 

These  services,  and  the  labors  of  his  assistant, 
have  been  so  far  blessed  that  the  congregation 
has  now  increased  to  the  full  extent  of  the  capacity 
of  the  house  of  worship.  This  day  I  had  ocular 
evidence  of  the  insufficiency  of  accommodation  for 
those  who  would  gladly  attend,  if  there  was  room; 
while  I  was  gladdened  (as  I  have  always  hereto- 
fore been  at  every  previous  visit,  official  or  other- 
wise,) with  the  spectacle  of  as  orderly,  reverent,  at- 
tentive and  seemingly  devout  a  congregation  as 
ever  I  saw  assembled  on  any  occasion  anywhere. 

The  Confirmation  this  morning  administered  is 
the  second  within  the  year.  At  the  last,  Bishop 
Whitehouse  confirmed  thirteen.  This  morning  ten 
received  the  rite.  No  class,  in  any  congregation, 
has  ever  given  me  more  satisfaction  in  appearance 
and  demeanor  than  that  which  this  day  presented 
itself  for   the   solemnity. 

These  facts  show  that  GOD  has  prospered  the 
congregation,  and  that  affords  fair  promise  of  in- 
creasing prosperity,  if  furnished  with  the  means  of 
growth.  It  cannot  grow  with  its  present  limited  ac- 
commodations. Another  Church  is  needed,  at  once, 
for  the  reception  of  additions  which  might  be  al- 
most  daily  made. 

Now,  just  at  this  juncture,  an  extraordinary  op- 
portunity occurs  for  obtaining  a  good  building,  well 
situated  with  reference  to  the  residence  of  a  large 
portion  of  our  colored  population,  at  a  very  low 
price — much  lower  than  equal  accommodations  must 
cost  under  other  circumstances.  That  building  is 
the  edifice  built  for  and  now  occupied  by  Trinity 
Church,  on  Fell's  Point.  It  is  about  to  be  vacated 
by  the  congregation,  on  its  removal  to  the  new 
and  larger  place  of  worship  almost  finished.  The 
congregation  is  unable  to  keep  the  old  building  to- 
gether with  the  new,  and  must  sell  at  once.  Offers 
have  already  been  made  by  other  denominations  of 
Christians,  but  the  vestry  would  naturally  prefer 
that  their  old  church  should  be  retained  for  the 
worship    of   our    own    Communion,    if    possible,    and 


the  first  on  southern  soil      S3 

in    order    to    do    that,    offer    it    on    the    most    accom- 
modating  terms   in    their   power. 

It  has  cost  nearly  or  quite  $4,000  and  will  be 
sold,  for  church  purposes,  for  $2,500,  payable  in 
three   semi-annual   instalments. 

The  Church  is  on  a  lot  held  on  a  redeemable 
lease,   at   a   ground   rent   of  $45   per   annum. 

For  this  rent  and  Church  expenses,  experience  at 
St.  James'  proves  that  the  collections  at  St.  James' 
would    amply    suffice. 

For  the  interest  accruing  on  the  deferred  pay- 
ments, I  can  depend  upon  the  present  congregation 
of   St.  James'    Church. 

For  the  Sunday  services  in  the  second  church, 
I  can  make  arrangements  with  the  city  clergy,  that 
they  shall  be  had  gratuitously,  by  a  routine  ar- 
ranged among  us  all,  as  I  have  known  colored 
churches  in  other  cities  to  be  supplied  for  years 
together;  and  I  pledge  myself  to  do  so.  For  the 
necessary  week-day  services  the  rector  and  assist- 
ant of  St.  James'  are  willing  to  be  responsible. 

It  is  only  needful,  then,  that  the  several  congre- 
gations in  the  city  should  be  willing  to  stretch  out 
a  hand  to  help  their  poorer  brethren  in  this  emer- 
gency, which  may  be  made  to  them  such  a  joyful 
God-send  by  assuming  the  semi-annual  payments 
required    as    purchase    money. 

.  Something  like  the  following  arrangement  would 
accomplish  this  object  every  way  so  desirable,  and 
surely,  in  view  of  the  ability  of  those  to  whom  it 
is   proposed,    so   feasible: 

^  If  St.  Paul's  Church,  Christ  Church,  St.  Peter's; 
Church  will  each  give  $150;  Mt.  Calvary  Churchy 
$100,  and  St.  Andrew's  and  Ascension  Church  $50  at 
each  semi-annual  payment,  the  work  will  be  ef- 
fected. 

It  cannot  be  possible,  I  think,  that  so  small  an 
effort  for  so  good  an  end  will  be  deemed  to  sur- 
pass the  ability  of  the  congregations  in  question; 
and  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  believe  that  they 
can  think  differently  from  me  as  to  its  expediency, 
or,  might  even  say,  obligation,  under  the  circum- 
stances  of  the   case. 

Imploring  you,  dear  brethren,  to  give  a  favorable 
consideration  to  this  appeal  in  behalf  of  a  portion 
of  our  population  who  need  much  increased  atten- 
tion,  I   am  faithfully  and   affectionately, 

Your   servant   in    Christ, 

R.   WHITTINGHAM. 

Baltimore,    Third    Sunday   in    Lent, 
March  19,  1854. 


34         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

The  Church  above  mentioned  was  ulti- 
mately purchased,  and  St.  Matthew's  congre- 
gation established.  But  after  varying  fortunes, 
the  Mission  was  disbanded  some  time  after 
the  death  of  Bishop  Whittingham,  its  com- 
municants added  to  the  list  of  St.  James' 
Church,  and  the  greater  portion  of  the  funds, 
proceeds  from  the  sale  of  the  property,  utilized 
in  the  purchase  of  the  Church  on  High  street 
for  St.  James'  congregation. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Historic  Struggles  of  Pastor  and  People. 

In  1857,  upon  the  retirement  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Mcjilton  from  the  rectorship  of  the 
Church,  the  Rev.  Harrison  H.  Webb,  his  as- 
sistant, was  duly  elected  rector.  This  chroni- 
cled a  very  important  epoch  in  the  life  of  the 
parish.  Mr.  Levington,  the  founder  and  first 
rector,  received  no  salary,  but  what  support 
he  could  realize  from  teaching  the  day  school. 
Mr.  Mcjilton,  who  had  served  the  Church  for 
such  a  long  period  as  its  rector,  was  also 
the  rector  of  a  white  parish,  from  which  he 
received  his  support.  Mr.  Webb  was  a  black 
man,  and  there  were  no  outside  sources  to 
contribute  to  his  support.  St.  James*  was  con- 
fronted with  a  real  live  and  practical  prob- 
lem— the  supporting  of  its  own  rector  from 
within.  It  was  undertaken  with  some  degree 
of  resolution,  but  it  proved  not  only  woefully 
disappointing,  but  the  inadequate  support  re- 
ceived was  largely  responsible  for  much  of 
the  unpleasantness  which  existed  for  years, 
and  which,  finally,  issued  in  the  alienation  of 
nearly  half  of  the  membership  in  the  attempt 
to  establish  a  new  work,  in  the  newer  section 
of   the    city,   known    as    St.    Philip's    Mission; 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL         35 

and,  finally,  in  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Webb 
as  rector  of  the  Church.  Mr.  Webb  reported, 
in  part,  to  the  Diocesan  Convention  of  1867: 
"The  small  sum  which  is  promised  to  the  rec- 
tor, from  St.  James'  Church  is  not  promptly 
paid.  If  it  were,  it  would  amount  only  to 
$150,  and  leave  the  minister  compelled  to  ap- 
ply to  other  sources  to  obtain  his  bread." 

Mr.  Webb  resigned  the  rectorship  in   1872. 
For    a    few    months,    by    appointment    of    the 
Bishop,   the   Rev.   John   Rose   took   charge   of 
the    congregation.      But    at    the    beginning   of 
the  Advent  season  of   1873   the  vestry  of   St. 
James  addressed  a  communication  to  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Hodges,  rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  stat- 
ing   their    inability    to    support    a    clergyman, 
and  requesting  the  rector  of  St.  Paul's  to  take 
charge  of  the  spiritual  affairs  of  the  congre- 
gation.    A  most  generous  and  kindly  response 
was  made  by  Dr.  Hodges  to  this  request,  and 
the  Rev.  Isaac  Lea  Nicholson,  a  curate  of  St. 
Paul's,  presented  himself  before  the  vestry  of 
St.   James',   by   direction   of  the   rector  of   St. 
Paul's,   to   take   charge    of   the    Church.      The 
vestry     enthusiastically     accepted     and     wel- 
comed most  heartily  the  Rev.   Mr.  Nicholson 
as   their   future   pastor.      With   the   advent   of 
the    Rev.    Mr.    Nicholson    (afterwards    Bishop 
of  Milwaukee)  a  new  chapter  in  the  life  of  St. 
James'  is  begun.     Hitherto,  the  services  were 
of  an  extremely  "low"  church  type.    Mr.  Nich- 
olson  at  once   set  to   work  to   conform   them 
to  that  represented  by  the  Mother  Parish  of 
St.  Paul.     A  more  reverent  adornment  of  the 
altar,   and  the  use   of   Eucharistic   lights   con- 
stituted the  first  step.    This  arrangement  with 
St.  Paul's  Parish  continued  to  the  end  of  1888. 
But   we   must   digress   at   this   point  to   notice 
a  movement  from  the  "old  church,"  in  recent 
years,  which  had  considerably  weakened  it. 
There  was   a  young  man  of  great   earnest- 


36         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

ness  and  zeal,  who,  as  an  infant,  had  been 
baptized  and  reared  up  in  the  old  church, 
serving  the  Church  in  nearly  every  way  pos- 
sible for  a  layman— a  member  of  the  vestry, 
and  its  efficient  clerk  for  a  number  of  years — 
Cassius  M.  C.  Mason. 

About  '68  or  '69,  Mr.  Mason,  with  a  con- 
siderable following  of  the  younger  people,  had 
ventured  to  start  a  new  work,  in  the  newer 
section  of  the  city,  known  as  "St.  Philip's 
Mission."  This  work  grew  rapidly.  There 
were  some  forty  communicants,  and  about  200 
other  persons  connected  with  it.  It  grieved 
Bishop  Whittingham  greatly,  for  it  was  his 
most  earnest  desire  to  effect  a  reconciliation 
between  St.  James'  Church  and  St.  Philip's 
Mission,  and  reunite  them.  St.  Philip's  peo- 
ple were  not  disposed  to  reunite.  And,  yet, 
the  Mission  could  hardly  advance,  under  the 
circumstances,  with  the  displeasure  of  the 
Bishop.  A  way  out  was  soon  discovered.  On 
one  Sunday — May  11,  1873 — St.  Philip's  was 
dissolved,  and  on  the  following  Sunday — May 
18th — the  people  who  composed  it  began  their 
existence  as  a  new  work,  "Mount  Calvary 
Chapel  of  S.  Mary  the  Virgin."  The  Rev. 
Joseph  Richey  was  the  rector  of  Mt.  Cal- 
vary, and  the  Rev.  Calbraith  B.  Perry,  his  as- 
sistant, became  the  immediate  pastor  of  "St. 
Mary's." 

In  the  journal  of  the  convention,  the  next 
year  (1874),  Bishop  Whittingham  in  his  ad- 
dress to  Assistant  Bishop  Pinckney  has  this 
to  say  of  the  good  fortune  of  the  new  con- 
gregation : 

"*  *  *  Besides  these,  a  substantial  stone 
building  has,  in  a  noble,  munificent  spirit, 
been  bought  for  the  colored  congregation,  for 
some  time  known  as  St.  Philip's  Mission,  and 
now  under  the  fostering  care  of  the  clergy  of 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL         37 

Mount    Calvary    Church,    crowding   it    in    fre- 
quent services." 

Some  idea  of  the  immediate  growth  of  St. 
Mary's  under  the  most  excellent  and  zealous 
administration  of  their  pastor,  Rev.  C.  B. 
Perry,  who  positively  refused  to  know  any- 
thing of  a  "color  line,"  may  be  gleaned  from 
an  extract  of  Mr.  Perry's  first  Conventional 
report  (1874).  He  said  in  part:  "We  have 
received  during  the  year  (besides  the  amount 
reported  above)  for  the  purchase  of  the 
Chapel,  $17,585.00.  With  the  accommodo- 
tions  thus  furnished,  a  congregation  of  less 
than  one  hundred  persons  has  increased  since 
September  21st,  when  the  Chapel  was  opened, 
to  between  four  and  five  hundred ;  and  after 
the  Bishop's  intended  visitation,  the  first  Sun- 
day after  Trinity,  there  will  be  about  one 
hundred  and  forty  communicants." 

That  St.  James'  was  not  completely  wiped 
out  by  this  large  secession  of  many  of  its 
most  substantial  and  useful  members,  and 
the  good  fortune  which  came  to  the  new  ven- 
ture, is  almost  a  miracle  of  Divine  Grace.  Al- 
though located  in  a  section  unfavorable  to  its 
growth  and  expansion,  and  with  many  serious 
disadvantages,  under  the  new  arrangement 
with  St.  Paul's  Parish  it  began  to  take  on 
new  life,  and  to  make  substantial  progress. 
Standing  for  self-control  from  within,  and 
maintaining  its  own  independence  as  a  parish, 
it  had  been  sadly  neglected  by  the  white 
churchmen  of  the  city.  Following  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Nicholson  was  a  succession  of  priests 
furnished  by  St.  Paul's,  ending  with  the  close 
of  the  year  1888,  who  were  as  follows  :  Rev. 
Messrs.  C.  P.  Jones,  M.  W.  Wayne,  F.  Hal- 
lam,  G.  B.  Johnson  and  B.  W.  Timothy,  the 
last  named  a  colored  clergyman.  All  of  these 
were  faithful  and  devoted  priests.  The  Rev. 
George  B.  Johnson  continued  in  charge  for  a 


38         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

longer  period  than  any  of  the  rest  (1880- 
1887).  Nor  has  there  ever  been  a  more  faith- 
ful and  self-denying  priest,  who  has  served 
the  Church,  than  the  Rev.  Mr.  Johnson,  at 
present  Chaplain  to  the  Bishop  of  Vermont. 
Especially,  under  his  administration  was  there 
growth  in  the  direction  of  self-support.  The 
highest  point  reached,  at  least  for  one  year, 
was  the  payment  of  $35.00  a  month  to  the 
rector  of  St.  Paul's  toward  the  stipend  of  the 
priest-in-charge..  The  last  priest  furnished  by 
St.   Paul's  was  the  Rev.   B.  W.  Timothy. 

With  the  beginning  of  the  year  1889  an- 
other new  chapter  in  the  affairs  of  the  Church 
was  begun. 

The  vestry  -transferred  the  spiritual  charge 
of  the  Church  from  the  care  of  the  rector  of 
St.  Paul's  to  the  Bishop  of  Maryland,  and  this 
change  lasted  only  for  about  four  years.  Dur- 
ing the  year  1889  the  old  church  building  at 
North  and  Saratoga  streets  was  thought  to  be 
unsafe  and  unsuitable  for  longer  continuance, 
and  St.  James'  congregation,  for  a  while, 
united  with  the  congregation  at  HowTard 
Chapel,  Park  avenue,  near  Dolphin  street. 
While  here,  at  different  times,  the  following 
clergymen  were  in  charge :  Archdeacon  F.  J. 
Clay  Moran,  Rev.  William  H.  Wilson  and  the 
Rev.  Air.  Tarrant.  Here,  the  Church  was 
rapidly  declining  and  going  to  pieces.  Final- 
ly, in  the  fall  of  1890,  the  white  Baptist 
Church,  on  High  street,  East  Baltimore,  wTas 
purchased  for  St.  James'  congregation,  and 
after  being  remodeled,  was  occupied  by  the 
congregation  in  December  of  that  year,  the 
Rev.  John  C.  Anderson,  an  Englishman,  be- 
ing in  charge.  It  was  hoped  that  with  a  large 
and  beautiful  church,  in  a  new  location,  that 
the  work  would  take  on  new  life  and  steadily 
advance.  But  it  proved  just  the  other  wray. 
Mr.    Anderson   remained    something   over    six 


St.  James'  Rectory,  Baltimore,  Md. 


40        THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

months,  and,  being  thoroughly  discouraged, 
did  not  wait  until  the  Bishop's  return  from 
abroad   before   giving   up   the   work. 

The  present  rector  was  called  by  Bishop 
Paret  to  take  charge  of  St.  James'  Church, 
in  October,  1891,  and  he  entered  upon  the 
work  on  the  17th  of  November  of  the  same 
year.  The  congregation  had  reached  the 
point  that  it  was  unable  to  contribute  any- 
thing to  the  support  of  the  rector,  and,  there- 
fore, the  Bishop  had  to  assume  the  entire 
support  of  the  priest-in-charge.  In  fact,  the 
congregation  was  unable  to  meet  its  current 
expenses,  and  was  then  in  arrears  of  $200  on 
such  expenses.  By  January,  1893,  conditions 
had  so  far  improved  as  to  warrant  the  Bishop 
in  convening  the  vestry  of  the  Church  at  the 
Episcopal  Residence,  and  turning  over  to 
them  the  charge  of  their  own  affairs  which 
they  had  asked  him  to  assume.  Whereupon, 
the  priest-in-charge,  the  present  rector,  was 
duly  called  by  the  vestry  to  the  rectorship  of 
the  Church  at  a  salary  of  two  hundred  dol- 
lars a  year. 

Although  used  by  us,  the  High  Street 
Church  had  not  been  accepted  by  the  vestry, 
the  title  to  it  being  held  by  the  Benevolent 
Society  of  St.  Paul's.  During  the  present  rec- 
torship the  money  received  from  the  sale  of 
the  old  church  on  North  and  Saratoga  streets 
was  applied  on  the  purchase  of  the  High 
street  property  and  the  title  passed  to  the  rec- 
tor and  vestry  of  the  Church. 

Because  of  the  neighborhood  being  almost 
wholly  composed  of  Jews,  it  was  soon  discov- 
ered that  the  congregation  must,  at  some 
time  in  the  future,  change  to  another  loca- 
tion. Hence,  although  paid  for,  the  High 
Street  Church  was  never  consecrated.  For 
awhile,  by  energetic  and  constant  labors,  the 
congregation  was  greatly  built  up,  large  num- 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL         41 

bers  of  them  coming  from  a  distance.  About 
the  year  1899  we  began  to  approach  a  crisis. 
Removal  became  an  absolute  and  immediate 
necessity.  In  the  fall  of  1900  negotiations 
were  begun  looking  towards  a  sale  of  the 
property.  The  Church  was  sold,  and  on  the 
30th  of  April.  1901,  we  vacated  the  High 
street  property.  From  May  1st  to  October 
10th  of  that  year,  we  were  without  a  habitat, 
and  through  the  courtesy  of  The  Maryland 
Home  For  Friendless  Colored  Children,  then 
located  at  404  Courtland  street,  an  institution 
organized  and  founded  by  the  present  rector 
of  this  Church  (although  not  controlled  by 
the  Church),  services  were  held  at  that  in- 
stitution until  we  were  privileged  to  enter 
our  new  Church.  Although  the  High  street 
propertv  must  have  cost,  originally,  more  than 
$25,000,'  it  was  sold  to  us  for  $10,000.  After 
paying  the  incidental  expenses  connected  with 
effecting  its  sale,  we  had  only  $6,000  with 
which  to  obtain  a  site  and  erect  a  church 
building.  Only  such  persons  who  have  been 
concerned  with  a  like  enterprise  in  any  large 
city,  the  size  of  Baltimore,  can  have  any  ade- 
quate conception  of  the  great  problem,  and 
the  many  and  weighty  responsibilities,  which 
rested  upon  the  rector  and  vestry  of  St.  James' 
Church.  That  we  successfully  managed  ou/ 
affairs,  placed  our  loan,  and  have  promptly/ 
and  honorably  met  all  demands  upon  us,  is 
due  to  the  complete  and  absolute  harmony  of 
the  rector  and  vestry.  The  vestry  selected  the 
rector  and  Mr.  Solomon  DeCoursey,  of  its 
body,  as  the  working  executive  committee  to 
supervise  and  direct  matters  generally;  and 
it  is  a  genuine  pleasure  for  the  rector  to  bear 
witness  to  the  fidelity,  zeal,  good  judgment, 
approved  business  methods,  and  incorruptible 

honesty  of  Mr.  DeCoursey,  who  nobly  sus- 
tained the  hardest  and  severest  portion  of  the 


hum .iMiTitatitiiattM^i  juiiiin  •-  "^   *m 


The    Maryland    Heme    For    Friendless    Colored 
Children. 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL         43 

work.     Ghequier  &  May  were  the  architects. 

and  Mr.  Thos.  P.  Johns  was  the  builder.  The 
ground,  buildings  and  furniture  represented 
an  outlay  of  about  $12,000  or  $13,000— with 
only  $6,000  in  cash  to  cover  the  same.  At 
the  time  we  attempted  building,  we  had  about 
150  communicants,  only  half  of  that  number 
being  available  as  contributors.  The  whole 
affair  was  a  supreme  act  of  faith.  We  had 
thrust  upon  us  this  debt,  with  the  interest  to 
provide,  as  well  as  our  current  expenses  to 
sustain.  Added  to  this  was  a  debt  on  the  rec- 
tory also  to  maintain.  Ours  was  not  only  to 
secure  the  necessary  means,  but  at  the  same 
time  secure  such  an  increase  in  our  member- 
ship as  would  materially  help  in  carrying  and 
sustaining  our  great   load. 

About  eight  years  have  passed  by,  and  by 
the  help  of  God  we  are  able  to  report  that  the 
work  has  gone  steadily  forward.  We  have 
sustained  our  missionary  and  diocesan-  assess- 
ments, and  we  have  met  our  current  expenses. 
We  have  a  beautiful  Church,  and  a  comforta- 
ble rectory,  and  we  have  reduced  our  total 
indebtedness  to  $3,000. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Church  has  gradually 
grown  in  self-support,  providing  $800  a  year 
of  the  rector's  stipend.  From  an  inability  to 
pay  the  rector  anything,  to  a  support  of  $800 
a  year,  in  addition  to  its  many  and  various 
other  obligations,  is  certainly  indicative  of  life. 
We  want  to  liquidate  our  mortgage  indebted- 
ness, and  then  we  need  an  enlargement  of  the 
Church  and  the  erection  of  a  parish  building. 

Unlike  the  two  older  Negro  parishes,  in  this 
country — St.  Thomas',  Philadelphia,  and  St. 
Philip's,  New  York,  begun  in  communities 
most  favorable  to  the  advance  of'  the  Church 
among  Colored  People — St.  James'  has  had  to 
make   its   way   through   difficulties   and   disad- 


44         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

vantages  sufficient  to  break  the  very  heart  of 
hope. 

St.  Thomas'  Church,  Philadelphia,  was  orig- 
inally located  in  a  neighborhood  where  prop- 
erty became  exceedingly  valuable,  and  when 
that  parish  found  it  necessary  to  change  its 
location  it  was  able  to  dispose  of  its  property 
and  realize  a  good  sum  for  the  same — some 
sixty  thousand  dollars  or  more.  This  Church, 
from  the  start,  was  encouraged  and  helped  by 
the  most  representative  people  of  Philadel- 
phia. Then,  it  was  in  an  atmosphere  of  free- 
dom. 

St.  Philip's  Church,  New  York,  was,  like- 
wise, extremely  fortunate  in  its  early  begin- 
nings. Allied  with  the  wealthiest  and  strong- 
est ecclesiastical  corporation  in  America,  and 
receiving  from  Trinity  Church,  help  and  as- 
sistance, it  is  today,  possibly,  the  wealthiest 
individual  Negro  ecclesiastical  corporation  in 
the  world,  with  an  estate  valued  at  about  a 
half  million  dollars. 

St.  James',  Baltimore,  the  youngest  of  the 
trio,  called  into  being  by  a  Negro  born  in 
New  York,  but  sent  into  the  ministry  from 
Pennsylvania,  was  situated  in  the  midst  of 
both  poverty  and  ignorance,  among  a  people 
in  the  land  of  darkness  and  the  shadow  of 
death.  Its  only  boast  is  that  out  of  weakness 
came  its  strength.  St.  James',  weak  and  in- 
signicant  in  material  things,  has  nevertheless 
been  strong  in  spiritual  things,  and  has  given 
freely  of  her  sons  to  "bear  the  Message  Glori- 
ous." In  addition  to  her  Stokes  and  her 
Webb,  others  of  her  sons,  by  their  good  works, 
have  adorned  the  holy  ministry.  James  E. 
Thompson,  priest  and  rector  and  founder  of 
St.  Thomas'  Church,  Chicago,  was  one  of  her 
children ;  and  so  was  and  is  the  Rev.  C.  M. 
C.  Mason,  founder  and  rector  of  All  Saint's 
Church,  St.  Louis,  Mo.     Mr.  Mason  was,  also, 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL        45 

with  forty  of  the  children  of  St.  James' 
Church,  the  chief  founder  of  St.  Mary's 
Chapel,  this  city. 

The  first  colored  man  to  enter  and  graduate 
from  the  General  Theological  Seminary,  in 
New  York — Hutchens  C.  Bishop — when  a 
babe  was  taken  into  the  arms  of  the  late  Rev. 
Harrison  H.  Webb,  in  old  St.  James'  Church, 
and  baptized  into  the  body  of  Christ.  Bishop 
Nicholson,  in  his  Milwaukee  Cathedral,  had 
the  extreme  pleasure  of  ordaining  deacon,  and 
then  priest,  a  colored  young  man  who,  as  a 
boy,  had  been  confirmed  in  St.  James'  Church, 
Baltimore,  where  Bishop  Nicholson  first  be- 
gan his  a'ctive  ministry.  That  young  man  is 
the  Rev.  E.  Robert  Bennett,  B.  D.,  rector  of 
St.  Mark's  Church,  Wilmington,  N.  C.  The 
Rev.  James  N.  Deaver,  who  is  doing  such  suc- 
cessful work  at  Atlantic  City,  N.  J.,  was  sent 
from  St.  James',  Baltimore,  by  the  Bishop  of 
Maryland,  to  work  as  a  catechist  in  the  back 
woods  of  Anne  Arundel  county,  and  while 
there  he  became  a  candidate  for  Orders,  and 
being  transferred  as  such  to  Southern  Florida, 
was  there  admitted  to  the  ministry. 

The  life  of  the  colored  community  has  been 
greatly  helped  by  the  powerful  influence  of 
the  strong  characters,  laymen,  from  time  to 
time,  communicants  of  St.  James'  Church. 
Such  men  as  the  late  Richard  Mason,  Dr.  A. 
T.  Augusta,  Wesley  Howard,  William  H. 
Bishop,  Charles  H.  Giles,  among  those  de- 
parted ;  and  William  H.  Waters,  still  surviv- 
ing, .who  first  served  as  a  vestryman  of  the 
Church   more  than   sixty-three  years   ago. 

There  are  two  memorials  in  the  Church  of 
special  interest.  The  first  is  a"window" erected 
by  the  Sunday  School  in  memory  of  Miss  Julia 
Mantley,  a  communicant  of  the  Church,  who 
departed  this  life  in  1890,  and  who  left  about 
$1,200  to  the   Convention   of   Maryland   to   be 


Maryland    Home    Boys    Returning    frcm    St.   James' 

Church. 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL         47 

held  in  trust,  the  interest  from  the  same  to  be 
paid  each  year  to  the  rector  of  St.  James' 
Church,  as  her  contribution  towards  his  sal- 
ary. The  annual  income  from  this  fund 
amounts  to  a  little  more  than  fifty  dollars 
each  year.  Miss  Mantley  was  a  poor  woman, 
who   earned   her   living  as   a  cook. 

Ascension,  1909,  there  was  placed  in  the 
Church  the  beautiful  east  window,  directly 
over  the  altar,  the  central  figure  being  a 
representation  of  St.  James  the  Great,  with 
beautiful  panel  work  on  each  side,  the  whole 
surmounted  with  a  striking  head  of  Our  Lord. 
This  window  is  the  joint  offering  of  the  late 
Mr.  William  Washington,  and  his  sister,  Mrs. 
John  Henry  Smith.  The  late  John  Henry 
Smith  was  for  a  number  of  years  a  vestryman 
of  the  Church,  and,  for  a  while,  its  faithful 
treasurer.  It  is  a  joint  memorial  to  Mr.  Wash- 
ington and  Mr.  Smith. 

The  rectory  was  procured,  mainly,  through 
the  kindness  of  Bishop  Paret,  about  one  thou- 
sand dollars  coming  through  him  towards  the 
same   from   the  church  people  of  the   diocese. 

The  Maryland  Home  for  Friendless  Colored 
Children  was  organized  in  1899  by  the  Rev. 
George  F.  Bragg,  rector  of  the  Church.  It 
is  a  self-perpetuating  corporation  composed  of 
twrelve  colored  men.  The  original  twelve  were 
selected  by  Mr.  Bragg.  While  this  institution 
is  not,  nominally,  a  Church  Home,  yet,  prac- 
tically, it  is.  The  women  in  charge  of  the 
Home  are  all  members  of  St.  James'  Church; 
the  children  all  attend  the  Sunday  School  and 
the  services  of  the  Church,  are  baptized,  and, 
in  due  season,  are  presented  for  Confirmation. 
The  rector  of  St.  James'  Church  is  the  Presi- 
dent and  Chaplain  of  the  institution.  It  re- 
ceives and  trains  in  virtue  and  industry  such 
neglected  colored  children  between  the  ages 
of  two  and  ten  as  are  committed  to  its  cus- 


48         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

tody  by  the  Juvenile  Court  or  other  compe- 
tent authority.  When  the  children  reach 
twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age  they  are 
placed  in  proper  families  to  remain  until  they 
become  of  age.  The  institution  is  supported 
by  voluntary  contributions,  and  by  appro- 
priations from  the  City  of  Baltimore  and  the 
State  of  Maryland. 

There  are  two  very  important  aspects  which 
have  characterized  the  life  of  the  parish  dur- 
ing the  present  rectorship.  We  have  raised 
the  necessary  money  to  sustain  our  expenses 
without  the  aid  of  fairs  and  entertainments. 
We  have  sought  to  teach  the  people  to  give 
out  of  their  means,  as  little  as  it  might  be, 
rather  than  to  depend  upon  begging  without, 
or  the  employment  of  questionable  means,  by 
all  sorts  of  entertainments.  We  have  been 
much  gratified  at  the  result.  The  other  aspect 
is  the  spiritual  life  of  the  people.  We  have 
kept  this  before  us  constantly,  in  every  phase 
of  the  work.  The  preaching  in  St.  James'  has 
had  but  one  end  in  view — the  deepening  of 
the  spiritual  life  of  the  people.  It  has  been 
our  constant  and  untiring  aim  to  bring  the 
people,  day  by  day,  in  touch — vital  touch — 
with  a  Jesus  Christ  of  the  present,  who  really 
saves  and  imparts  happiness  and  joy.  As  one 
result  of  all  this,  we  have  a  united  and  har- 
monious  parish,   free   from    factional   disputes. 

The  rector  of  St.  James'  would  do  himself 
a  very  great  injustice  if  he  did  not  here  record 
his  profound  appreciation  of  the  kind,  just, 
and  ever  faithful  support  which  his  honored 
and  greatly  beloved  diocesan  has  ever  ex- 
hibited  towards    St.   James',   and   its   rector. 

With  respect  to  our  Father  in  Heaven, 
words  fail  us  in  expressing  our  gratitude  to 
Him  for  the  Loyalty  and  Love  of  their  rec- 
tor which  have  ever  characterized  the  people 
cf   St.   James'.      It   is   a   record   of   which   any 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL        49 

priest  may  humbly  feel  proud,  that  amidst 
all  the  work  and  strivings  of  seventeen  years 
of  labor,  we  have  been  able  to  attend  to  all 
our  parochial  affairs  without  necessitating 
factions  and  parties.  By  the  Grace  of  God, 
we  have  been  as  a  loving  family,  and  never 
at  any  time  have  we  found  it  necessary  to 
call  in  as  arbitrator  our  Rt.  Rev.  Father  in 
God,  or  any  other  person  beyond  our  own 
family  circle.  God  grant  that  this  record  may 
never  be  reversed. 


>  An  Important  Summary. 

In  spite  of  earnest  effort  we  have  not  been 
able  to  ascertain  but  little  concerning  the  per- 
sonal history  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Levington.  From 
such  data  as  we  have,  and  natural  inferences, 
we  are  of  the  opinion  that  he  was  baptized  in 
Trinity  parish,  New  York.  On  the  testimony 
of  Mr..  Webb,  a  contemporary  of  his  times, 
also  a  former  rector  of  St.  James',  we  know 
that  Mr.  Levington  was  born  in  New  York. 
He  was  born  in  the  year  1793,  the  very  year  in 
which  St.  Thomas'  Church,  Philadelphia,  was 
established.  For  25  years  St.  Thomas'  was 
the  only  Negro  Church  in  the  United  States. 
St.  Philip's  Church,  New  York,  was  the  next 
one  in  the  order  of  time ;  the  cornerstone  of 
said  church  edifice  was  laid  on  the  6th  of 
August,  1818,  the  23rd  anniversary  of  the  ordi- 
nation of  Absalom  Jones  to  the  diaconate. 
Thus,  Mr.  Levington  having  been  born  in  New 
York  25  years  before  the  founding  of  St.  Philip's 
Church,  it  is  most  highly  probable  that  he  was 
baptized  in  Trinity  parish,  since,  previous  to 
the  birth  of  St.  Philip's,  nearly  all  the  colored 
Churchmen  of  New  York  were  connected  with 
Trinity  parish.  If  such  a  presumption  be  true, 
the  Missionary  results  of  the  life  of  William 


50         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

Levington  are  highly  creditable  to  the  parish 
of  his  Baptism,  and  it  would  be  most  fitting 
for  that  wealthy  and  venerable  corporation,  at 
this  late  day,  to  adequately  equip  its  "Negro 
offspring"  for 'the  great  work  to  be  done  of 
uplifting  the  people  of  the  black  race. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Levington's  ordination  to  the 
diaconate,  took  place  in  St.  Thomas'  Church, 
Philadelphia,  on  the  14th  of  March,  1824.  Very 
soon  thereafter,  he  visited  Baltimore,  remain- 
ing a  few  weeks,  and  then  returning  to  Phila- 
delphia. On  the  26th  of  May  of  the  same  year 
he  returned  to  Baltimore  to  take  up  the  work. 
The  first  regular  service  was  held,  in  the  "up- 
per room,"  on  the  23rd  of  June,  of  the  same 
year. 

The  lot  on  which  the  Church  was  erected, 
corner  of  Saratoga  and  North  streets,  was  do- 
nated by  James  Bosley,  Esq.,  on  April  19th, 
1825.  The  "cornerstone"  was  laid  on  the  10th 
of  October,  1826.  The  Church  was  consecrated 
on  March  31,  1827.  The  First  Confirmation 
service  held  in  the  Church  took  place  on  De- 
cember 12th,  1828.  The  Church  was  incor- 
porated, under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Mary- 
land in  1829.  The  death  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lev- 
ington occurred  on  the  23rd  of  May,  1836. 

The  cornerstone  of  the  present  edifice  was 
laid  on  Sunday  the  23rd  of  June,  1901,  that 
being  the  77th  anniversary  of  the  "first"  serv- 
ice held  by  Mr.  Levington.  The  choir  of  St. 
Mary's  Chapel  united  with  the  choir  of  St. 
James'  in  furnishing  the  music  for  the  occa- 
sion. The  Bishop  being  out  of  the  country, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  S.  B.  Hodges,  rector  of  St. 
Paul's  parish  laid  the  stone.  The  rector  of 
the  parish,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bragg,  was  master 
of  ceremonies,  and  the  Rev.  Thomas  Atkinson, 
rector  of  St.  Barnabas'  Church,  a  grandson  of 
the  late  Bishop  Atkinson,  of  North  Carolina, 
delivered  the  address.  Besides  those  already 
mentioned,  the  following  clergy  vested,  and  in 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL         51 

the  procession,  were  present:  Rev.  J.  H.  Ec- 
cleston,  D.  D.,  rector  of  Emmanuel  Church; 
Rev.  Arthur  C.  Powell,  D.  D.,  rector  of  Grace 
Church;  Rev.  E.  B.  Niver,  rector  of  Christ 
Church;  Rev.  Geo.  C.  Stokes,  rector  of  the 
Church  of  the  Redeemer,  and  the  Rev.  J.  G. 
Sadtler,  rector  of  the  Church  of  Our  Savior. 

The  first  service  held  in  the  new  church  was 
on  the  10th  of  October,  1901,  the  anniversary 
of  the  laying  of  the  first  cornerstone,  being  a 
celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion,  the  rector 
being  celebrant,  and  Mrs.  Nellie  G.  Bragg,  the 
wife  of  the  rector,  being  the  first  lay  person  to 
communicate. 

The  first  baptism,  in  the  new  church  took 
place  on  Sunday,  October  20th,  the  infant  be- 
ing, "Albert  Anderson"  Burgess.  His  mother 
having  been  married  by  the  present  rector,  and 
his  grandmother  having  been  married  by  the 
late  Rev.  Harrison  H.  Webb. 

The  first  person  to  receive  holy  Confirma- 
tion was  "Arthur  Milton"  Bragg,  a  "birthday"" 
present,  son  of  the  rector  of  the  parish.  The 
Confirmation  occurred  on  the  Feast  of  the  Pre- 
sentation of  Christ  in  the  Temple,  February  2, 
1902.  Bishop  Paret  officiating;  there  were 
twenty  confirmed  at  that  time. 

The  location  of  the  present  edifice  is  at  the 
corner  of  Park  avenue  and  Preston  street. 
The  following  are  the  Wardens  and  Vestry- 
men: Heber  G.  Outerbridge,  Geo.  A.  L.  An- 
derson, D.  W.  Queen,  Solomon  DeCoursey, 
Walter  S.  Emerson,  Robert  H.  Pennington, 
Harry  Butler,  Daniel  Peck  and  William  Emer- 
son Young. 


APPENDIX. 

Although  not  a  part  of  the  history  of  St. 
James'  Church,  Baltimore,  yet,  the  author 
deems  it  both  interesting  and  helpful  to  chroni- 
cle one  or  two  matte  5,  of  historical  importance, 


52        THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

connected  with  the  general  work  of  the  church 
among  the  colored  race. 

In  October,  1894,  the  centennial  celebration 
of  the  "Mother  Church,"  St.  Thomas,  Phila- 
delphia, occurred,  and  it  is  a  great  pleasure  to 
herewith  present  the  admirable  address  de- 
livered on  that  occasion,  by  the  Bishop  of 
Pennsylvania,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Whitaker. 

On  the  9th  of  December,  1894,  the  late  Rev. 
Dr.  Crummell,  celebrated,  in  St.  Luke's 
Church,  Washington,  D.  C,  of  which  he  was 
the  founder,  the  50th  anniversary  of  his  ordi- 
nation to  the  Christian  Priesthood.  Among 
the  letters  and  testimonials  read  in  connection 
with  that  occasion  was  a  greeting  from  the 
Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Holly,  the  Bishop  of  Haiti,  which 
we  also  present.  Practically  the  whole  of  Dr. 
Crummell's  clerical  life  in  America  was  spent 
in  the  old  Diocese  of  Maryland,  and  within 
the  bounds  of  this  same  old  Diocese  was  born 
and  baptised,  in  the  Roman  Church,  James 
Theodore  Holly,  the  First  Negro  consecrated 
a  Bishop  in  the  Church  of  God  on  American 
soil. 

In  the  year  1889,  the  Council  of  Virginia  ex- 
cluded the  Negro  from  membership  in  that 
body ;  whereupon  the  Bishop  of  Haiti  wrote 
a  memorable  epistle  to  his  colored  brethren 
who  protested  against  the  action  of  the  Coun- 
cil. That  communication  we  also  give.  Some 
years  ago,  while  attending  the  Lambeth  Con- 
ference of  Bishops,  Bishop  Holly,  on  the  Feast 
of  St.  James',  in  Westminster  Abbey,  lifted  up 
his  heart  and  voice  to  the  Throne  of  Grace,  on 
behalf  of  the  Sons  of  Ham  throughout  the 
world.     This  prayer  we  also  give. 

Bishop  Whitaker  at  the  Centennial  of  St. 
Thomas'  Church. 

At  the  centennial  services  of  St.  Thomas' 
Church,  Philadelphia,  on  Sunday,  October 
14th,  the  Rt.   Rev.   Ozi  W.   Whitaker,   D.   D., 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL        53 

LU.D.,  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania,  delivered  the 
address.     He  said : 

"My  dear  brethren,  and  brethren  of  the  ves- 
try and  congregation.  There  must  be  today 
an  emotion  in  your  hearts  of  thankfulness  to 
Almighty  God  for  His  blessings.  It  is  well 
that  you  have  assembled  to  witness  this  com- 
memoration. The  history  of  this  parish  is 
connected  with  the  history  of  the  nation.  The 
conditons  under  which  we  assemble  are  very 
different  from  those  at  the  commencement  of 
the  parish.  The  United  States  were  then  but 
fifteen  in  number,  and  General  Washington 
was  serving  his  first  term  as  President.  The 
country  now  extends  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific.  The  population  was  then  a  little  over 
3,000,000;  now  it  is  65,000,000.  Of  the  colored 
race  there  were  750,000,  only  60,000  were  free; 
now  it  has  increased  ten  fold,  and  there  is  not 
one  who  is  not  a  free  man.  The  Rev.  William 
White  was  then  Bishop.  Yours  was  the  fifth 
congregation  to  be  organized  in  Philadelphia, 
and  there  were  not  at  that  time  more  than 
nine  or  ten  in  the  entire  State.  You  were 
the  first  congregaton  of  colored  people  to  be 
organized,  and  the  minister  of  this  parish  was 
the  first  colored  man  to  be  ordained  in  the 
United  States.  The  city  of  Phladelphia  had 
then  a  population  of  less  than  50,000,  along 
the  Delaware  river,  from  Vine  to  South  streets, 
and  the  streets  around  the  old  church  at  Fifth 
and  Adelphi  streets  were  not  paved.  We  have 
now  a  population  of  1,100,000.  Well  may  we 
look  back  on  what  has  been  wrought-  We  may 
well  find  much  to  admire  and  emulate  in  the 
founders  of  this  parish.  They  were  men  who 
believed  in  God — men  who  trusted  not  in  their 
own  righteousness,  but  only  in  the  mercy  of 
God ;  who  trusted  not  in  their  own  strength, 
but  in  that  imparted  by  the  Holy  Ghost;  men 
who  reverenced  God,  and  did  not  measure  their 
piety  by  religious  show.     They  lived  as  men 


54        THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

who  were  to  give  an  account  of  the  deeds  done 
in  the  body.  They  were  men  of  wonderful 
patience.  They  did  not  have  a  smooth,  easy, 
gliding  passage,  but  influence  from  without 
hindered  their  advance.  How  patiently  they 
endured  when  they  asked  for  equal  rights  and 
equal  representation  on  the  floor  of  the  Dio- 
cea"san  Convention.  Year  after  year  it  was 
denied  them  ;  not  out  of  ill  will  or  hatred,  but 
through  a  mistaken  sense  of  right  and  justice. 
The  hearts  of  the  people  were  Anally  opened, 
and  to  the  everlasting  glory  of  Bishop  Alonzo 
Potter  their  recognition  was  accorded.  It  was 
only  31  years  ago  they  were  granted  equal 
rights  in  the  Convention.  They  were  not  dis- 
couraged, however,  and  had  no  thought  of 
abandoning  their  organization.  They  believed 
in  God,  went  steadily  on  their  way,  and,  in 
His  own  good  time,  God  brought  it  about. 

''Absalom  Jones,  a  man  born  a  slave,  won 
his  was  into  the  ministry  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church ;  for  22  years  he  served  this 
parish,  and  went  to  his  grave  honored.  You 
have  shared  in  all  this  advancement  that  has 
been  going  on  ;  great  have  been  your  privileges, 
and  great  is  your  responsibility.  You  occupy 
a  prominent  position,  and  the  whole  Church 
is  looking  to  see  that  you  fulfill  the  pledge  you 
made. 


The  Jubilee  of  the  Late  Rev.  Alexander  Crum- 
mell,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

From  an  excellent  account  of  the  services 
given  by  the  Washington  Post,  of  December 
10,  1894,  we  quote  from  the  discourse  delivered 
by  Dr.  Crummell  on  the  day  before: 

"Notwithstanding  the  countless  ills  that  be- 
fall us  during  our  material  life  the  conviction 
is  almost  universal  that  life  is  a  great  gift  to 
man,  and  of  exceeding  value.  It  is  true  that 
we  hear  now  and  then  the  mooted  question,  "Is 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL         55 

life  worth  living?"  but  only  one  man  in  a  mil- 
lion makes  this  doleful  utterance.  For  men 
love  life,  because,  with  all  its  adversities,  it 
guarantees  a  substance  and  affords  a  measure 
of  reality.  Hence,  we  find  among  men,  anni- 
versary commemmorations,  red  letter  days,  an- 
nual festivals,  of  persons,  families,  nations. 
These  testify  to  man's  belief  in  the  excellence 
of  the  life  God  has  given  us. 

I  have  fallen  in  with  the  common  sentiment, 
and  this  day  stand  here  to  celebrate  this  anni- 
versary with  conflicting  feelings  and  memories 
surging  upon  me  that  suggest  the  title  for  my 
discourse,  "The  shades  and  the  lights  of  a  fifty 
years'  ministry." 

Dr.  Crummell  briefly  recited  the  circum- 
stances of  his  birth  in  New  York,  in  1819.  His 
father,  Boston  Crummell,  was  the  son  of  the 
King  of  Timanee  and  his  mother  a  free  woman. 
He  first  attended  a  Quaker  school,  he  said,  in 
Mulberry  street,  and  in  1831  took  up  the  study 
of  Greek  and  Latin  in  the  high  school,  under 
Rev.  Peter  Williams.  Later,  he  went  to  a  free 
institution  in  Canaan,  N.  H.,  but  that  was  torn 
down  by  men  with  whom  race  prejudice  was  a 
dominant  sentiment.  "At  this  early  period  of 
my  boyhood,"  said  Dr.  Crummell,  "stimulated 
by  the  catechisings  of  Mr.  Williams,  then  rec- 
tor of  St.  Philip's,  New  York,  and  kindled  by 
the  sermon  of  Dr.  (afterwards  Rt.  Reverend 
Bishop  W.  R.)  Whittingham,  I  determined  to 
prepare  for  holy  orders.  But  I  was  to  under- 
go an  experience  that  well  nigh  drove  me  to 
desperation  and  brought  starvation  and  physi- 
cal ruin  close  upon  me.  Those  were  days  of 
deep,  dark  tribulations  for  my  race.  The  pro- 
slavery  and  caste  spirit  dominated  the  country, 
and  it  was  as  strong  in  the  Church  as  in  the 
State.  Three  other  colored  candidates  had 
been  admitted  to  seminaries,  but  with  limita- 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL        5, 

tions  and  indignities  to  which  it  was  impos- 
sible for  me  to  submit. 

Denied  Admission. 

"I  applied  for  admission  first  to  the  General 
Theological  Seminary  of  New  York.  Bishop 
Whittingham  was  my  staunch  friend,  but  could 
do  nothing  with  the  trustees,  who,  with  the 
exception  of  Right  Rev.  George  Washington 
Doane,  of  New  Jersey,  were  fiercely  against 
my  admission,  and  my  petition  was  rejected. 
Bishop  B.  T.  Onderdonk  then  sent  for  me  and 
grossly  insulted  me.  The  immediate  cause  of 
this  difficulty  was  the  fact  that  South  Carolina 
had  but  recently  endowed  the  Seminary  with 
a  $15,000  professor's  chair,  and  Bishop  Onder- 
donk was  determined  the  people  of  that  State 
should  not  be  offended  by  the  presence  of  a 
Negro  in  the  institution. 

Crummell  was  now  regarded  as  a  disturber 
of  the  peace.  Hardly  any  among  the  clergy 
would  do  aught  but  shun  him.  He  had  a  few 
friends,  however,  among  them  Hon.  William 
Jay  and  John  Jay,  son  and  grandson,  respec- 
tively, of  Chief  Justice  John  Jay,  Charles  King, 
editor  of  the  New  York  American;  Rufus 
King,  and  Rev.  Manton  Eastburn,  rector  of 
Ascension.  At  their  instance  he  went  to  Bos- 
ton, and  finally  secured  admission  as  a  student 
in  the  Yale  Theological  Seminary,  and  even 
there  would  not  let  his  name  be  put  upon  the 
list  of  students.  Later  he  made  the  friendship' 
of  Dr.  Alexander  H.  Vinton,  Rev.  Thomas  M. 
Clark  (afterwards  Bishop  of  Rhode  Island), 
and  others,  who  encouraged  him  in  his  efforts 
to  preach  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  after  his  ordi- 
nation as  deacon  in  the  Diocese  of  Massachu- 
setts. But  neither  there  nor  in  Philadelphia, 
where  in  1844  he  was  ordained  by  Bishop  Lee, 
could  he  gain  support.  His  New  York  and 
Boston  friends  then  urged,  in  view  of  his  en- 
feebled condition  resulting  from  his  troubles, 
that   he   go   to    England. 


The  late  Rev.  Alexander   Crummell,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 


58         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

Welcomed  to  England. 

"I  now  pass  from  the  shades  of  my  ministry 
to  the  lights.  I  turn  to  a  brighter  page  in  my 
history."  He  was  received  in  England  with  a 
generosity  that  almost  bewildered  him,  after 
his  sufferings  in  his  native  land.  He  preached 
in  London,  Liverpool,  Birmingham,  Manches- 
ter, and  other  cities  of  Great  Britian,  was  given 
a  curacy  and  entered  Queen's  College,  Cam- 
bridge, graduating  in  1852.  This  was  a  period 
of  grand  opportunities,  richest  experiments, 
almost  unlimited  privileges  and  cherished  re- 
membrances. He  was  admitted  into  the  best 
society  of  England,  and  made  friends  among 
the  Thorntons,  the  Froudes,  the  Thackerays, 
with  Macaulay ;  and  others  of  literary  note. 
His  health  was  still  poor,  however,  and  he  went 
to  Africa,  where  for  twenty  years  he  ministered 
among  the  natives  and  the  colonists  from 
America;,  was  pastor  at  the  High  School,  and 
professor  in  Liberia  college.  In  1873  he  re- 
turned to  America,  and  established  St.  Luke's 
Church,  Washington,  D.  C.  "Notwithstand- 
ing my  troubles,"  said  Dr.  Crummell.  "I  am 
thoroughly  an  optimist.  The  Lord  has  chas- 
tened me,  and  I  am  content." 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL         59 
BISHOP    HOLLY    TO    DR.    CRUMMELL. 


Evangelical  Truth.     Apostolic  Order.     Catho- 
lic Charity. 

Bishop  Holly,  the  Senior  Negro  Bishop  of 
the  Anglican  Communion  now  living,  sends 
his  hearty  Christian  greetings  to  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Crummell,  the  senior  Negro  presbyter  of  the 
same  Communion,  now  living;  on  the  occasion 
of  the  Jubilee  of  his  ordination  to  the  Priest- 
hood of  the  Christian  Church. 

The  Bishop  begs  to  be  permitted  to  add  to 
his  greetings,  the  following  reflections  sug- 
gested by  that  important  event. 

A  century  ago,  at  a  time  of  general  doubt 
and  misgivings  about  the  capacity  of  the 
Negro  race ;  and  when  the  men  of  that  race 
were,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  still  in  the  unde- 
veloped state,  where  slavery  and  oppression 
had  kept  them,  during  a  period  of  about  a 
century,  and  three-fourths  of  another  century, 
in  the  United  States;  there  was  even  then 
found  a  Catholic-hearted  Prelate,  in  the  per- 
son of  the  first  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania,  who 
had  the  Christian  courage  to  ordain  the  Rev. 
Absalom  Jones,  a  man  of  the  Negro  race,  to 
the  Sacred  Ministry  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 

When  the  jubilee  of  that  first  ordination  of  a 
Negro  clergyman  in  the  United  States  came 
around,  the  Christian  spirit  manifested  by  that 
Bishop  fifty  years  before,  had  unfortunately- 
grown  narrower  and  meaner;  instead  of  be- 
coming larger  and  generous,  towards  the 
Negro  race.  Strange  to  say,  this  retrograde 
feeling  had  thus  come  about,  in  spite  of  the 
marked  advancement  in  various  resoects.  that 

had  been  made  by  that  race  during  the  preced- 
ing half  century. 


The  Rt.  Rev.  James  Thecdore  Holly,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 
Bishop  of  Haiti. 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN    SOIL.  61* 

To  rebuke  this  unchristian  spirit  in  the  high 
places  of  the  Church,  God,  in  His  wonderful 
Providence,  was  pleased  to  raise  up  and  bring 
into  notice,  at  or  about  that  year  of  the  jubilee 
anniversary  of  the  Rev.  Absalom  Jones'  ordi- 
nation, a  young  Negro  Levite,  a  candidate  for 
Holy  Orders,  to  vindicate  the  manhood  of  the 
race,  in  the  very  teeth  and  face  of  such  ec- 
clessiastical  time-serving;  and  to  claim  the  full 
acknowledgment  by  the  Church  of  Christ,  in 
his  person  of  the  equal  Gospel  privileges  of 
men  of  every  race  around  her  altars. 

That  heroic  Christian  Levite  is  the  Presby- 
ter, who  now  at  the  end  of  another  fifty  years 
celebrates  the  jubilee  of  his  ordination  to  the 
Gospel  Priesthood.  This  venerable  priest  of 
the  Church  of  God,  is  the  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander 
Crummell. 

The  Afro-American  clergy  and  laymen  who 
met  in  October  last  in  Philadelphia  to  celebrate 
the  centennial  of  the  organization  of  the  parish 
of  St.  Thomas  Church,  in  that  city,  perhaps  did 
not  fully  realize  at  the  time  of  their  festal  gath- 
ering, how  much  the  increased  brotherly  con- 
sideration for  them,  now  manifested  in  the 
whole  American  Church  comes  under  God  as 
a  direct  result  of  the  manly  stand  assumed  fifty 
years  ago  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Crummell — a  stand 
which  produced  its  echo  on  the  shores  of  the 
mother  Church  of  England — and  its  re-echo 
from  thence  on  the  American  shores  again.  God 
be  praised  that  this  His  venerable  servant,  has 
been  spared  to  see  and  enjoy  this  happy  result 
of  the  faithful  testimony  he  was  privileged  to 
render  at  the  critical  turning  point  of  Ameri- 
can Church  history.  And  let  God  also  be 
thanked  that  this  priestly  jubilee  of  His  servant 
comes  soon  after  the  centennial  of  St.  Thomas' 
Church,  to  give  the  needed  emphasis  to  the 
same;  and  to  call  our  particular  attention  to 


62         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

what  God  has  wrought  through  His  now  aged 
servant  in  the  days  of  his  youth. 

The  Bishop  of  Haiti,  who  heartily  greets  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Crummell  on  this  jubilee  occasion  is 
also  happy  to  seize  this  occasion  to  publicly 
acknowledge  his  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  vener- 
able Doctor  for  the  uplifting  inspiration,  which 
under  God,  the  Bishop  has  received  from  the 
Doctor's  noble  example,  inspiration  by  which 
the  Bishop  has  been  enabled  to  work  with 
courageous  patience  and  preseverance  during 
the  last  forty  years  nearly,  in  the  ministry  of 
the  Church  of  Christ  as  Deacon,  Priest  and 
Bishop. 

The  Bishop  of  Haiti  further  prays  that  God 
will  preserve  for  some  time  longer  amongst 
us,  in  life,  health,  usefulness  and  happiness  this 
venerable  patriarch  of  the  Afro-American 
Priesthood  and  that  when  his  duties  in  the 
Church  Militant  shall  have  been  accomplished 
God  will  be  pleased  to  let  the  body  of  His  aged 
servant  fall  asleep  calmly  and  sweetly  in  Jesus, 
and  to  admit  his  purified  soul  to  the  life,  peace 
and  rest  of  the  Church  reposing ;  there  to  await 
his  joyful  resurrection  and  summons  to  glory, 
when  the  chief  Bishop  and  Shepherd  of  our 
souls  shall  descend  with  a  shout,  and  the  sound 
of  the  last  trumpet,  and  the  voice  of  the  arch- 
angel, from  the  Church  triumphant  above,  to 
give  unto  him  in  company  with  all  those,  who 
like  hi  mlive  and  long  for  the  future  appear- 
ing from  Heaven  of  the  Great  God,  our  Lord 
and  Savior  Jesus  Christ. 

The  Bishop  of  Haiti,  in  concluding  his  re- 
flectons,  invokes  the  blessings  of  the  Lord  God 
Almighty,  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  upon 
all  those  who  shall  be  present  in  body  or  in 
spirit,  at  the  commemorative  festivities  of  the 
Sacerdotal  Jubilee  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Crummell. 

Given  under  the  hand  of  the  Bishop  of  Haiti, 
on  the  Feast  of  St.  Andrew,  Apostle  and 
Martyr,  in  the  year  of  Our  Lord,  one  thousand 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL         63 

eight  hundred  and  ninety-four ;  and  of  the  Bish- 
op's consecration,  the  21st. 

JAMES  THEODORE  HOLLY, 

Bishop  of  the  Haytian  Orthodox 
Apostolic   Church. 


Bishop  Holly  to  the  Virginia  "Protestants." 

Port  au  Prince,  Haiti, 

June  1,  1889. 
Rev.  and  Dear  Brother: 

I  see  by  a  recent  number  of  the  "Southern 
Churchman"  that  the  agitation  over  the  col- 
ored question  has  reached  a  temporary  solution 
in  the  dioceses  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  Virginia  and  South  Carolina.  I 
have  also  taken  note  of  the  protest  made  by 
you  in  common  with  eight  of  your  colored  col- 
leagues against  the  solution  given  to  that  agi- 
tated question  by  the  Council  of  that  Church  in 
Virginia  I  recognize  the  fact  that  you  thereby 
performed  an  act,  as  a  matter  of  duty,  of  which 
you,  under  God,  had  the  sole  responsibility  of 
being  Judges,  under  the  circumstances,  and  on 
that  occasion,  when  you  were  called  to  act. 
No  other  man  or  set  of  men  otherwise  placed 
could  or  should  dictate  to  you  your  course  of 
action  in  the  premises. 

The  Temperate  Tone  of  the  Protest. 

I  simply  write  to  say  first  how  much  I  am 
pleased  with  the  temperate  tone  of  your  protest 
and  the  solemn  appeal  therein  made  from  the 
decision  of  that  council  to  the  final  judgment 
seat  of  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church.  In  this 
appeal  you  acted  according  to  Divine  inspira- 
tion, and  be  assured  that  it  has  not  been  made 
in  vain.  In  the  second  place  I  wish  to  refer 
to  the  human  fear  also  expressed  in  that  pro- 
test, to  the  effect  that  the  amendment  made  to 
the  Diocesan  Constitution  may  "put  an  end  to 
the  growth  of  the  work  of  the  Church  among 


64         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

our  people."  I  wish  to  exhort  you  to  implore 
the  succor  of  Divine  grace  to  cast  out  that  fear, 
and  to  inspire  you  all  with  renewed  courage  to 
labor  to  counteract  the  evil  results  you  seem  to 
dread.  I  send  you  this  exhortation,  because  I 
sincerely  believe  that  the  African  race  must 
find  in  the  Churches  of  'the  Anglican  Com- 
munion the  powerful  lever,  which  under  God, 
will  elevate  them  to  the  full  stature  of  their 
Christian  manhood.  That  race  is  under  a  dark 
and  heavy  cloud  of  spiritual  ignorance.  It  is 
only  the  entrance  of  God's  word  that  giveth 
light.  That  saving  word  of  inspiration  (leav- 
ing aside  the  explanations  of  the  human 
preacher)  can  be  heard  in  its  purity  in  those 
Churches  in  the  Scriptural  order  of  the  liturgi- 
cal services,  in  greater  abundance,  and  by  a 
clearer  and  more  systematic  presentation  of 
the  whole  mystery  of  Godliness,  than  in  any 
other  or  all  other  churches  under  the  sun. 
Hence,  in  a  somewhat  lower  sense  than  the  oc- 
casion on  which  the  Apostle  Peter  spoke,  we 
may  say  before  thinking  of  turning  away  from 
the  Church  of  our  love :  "Whither  can  we  go ; 
for  thou  our  spiritual  Mother,  hast  the  words 
of  Eternal  Life !"  Therefore  the  impalatable 
decision  arrived  at  should  be  accepted  as  a 
Providential  fact,  permitted  by  Almighty  God 
for  your  trial  in  the  furnace  of  affliction,  to 
bring;  about  your  spiritual  perfection. 

A  Temporary  'compromise. 

It  is  a  temporary  compromise,  enacted  by 
time  serving  men,  acting  no  doubt  conscienti- 
ously, according  to  the  best  light  they  have ; 
and  which  in  the  ecclesiastical  order  is  of  the 
same  nature  as  the  Missouri  compromise  of 
1818,  the  compromise  of  1850,  and  the  Dred 
Scott  decision  of  1857,  were  in  the  political  and 
judicial  order  of  things.  And  as  these  latter 
compromises,  that  might  well  be  characterized 
in  the  terms  of  an  ancient  prophet  (Isa.  xxviii : 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL         65 

14-22)  were  scattered  to  the  four  winds  of 
heaven  by  th.e  political  earthquake  in  the 
States,  which  followed  four  years  after  the 
Dred  Scott  decision,  by  the  Higher  Decision 
of  Almighty  God,  to  whom  alone  vengeance 
belongeth ;  so  those  ecclesiastical  compromises 
made  (as  you  say  in  your  protest)  "as  God 
would  not  have  settled  them,"  will  also  be 
brought  to  nought  by  the  supreme  Decision 
emanating  from  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ, 
to  which  you  have  so  wisely  appealed.  No ; 
we  must  not  abandon  the  Churches  of  the 
Anglican  Communion.  There  is  still  virtue  in 
them  by  the  Sovereign  election  of  the  Al- 
mighty, and  with  no  thanks  to  those  tempor- 
arily invested  with  their  administration.  It  is 
not  moral  character,  nor  knowledge,  nor  per- 
sonal control,  nor  the  dignity  of  those  ad- 
ministrators that  preserve  this  Divine  grace 
in  those  Churches,  any  more  than  'similar 
qualities  in  the  Jew  can  add  to  the  virtue  of 
Divine  Revelation,  of  which  he  is  the  organ 
and  the  guardian ;  but  it  is  the  Sovereign  will 
and  power  of  Almighty  God  that  preserve  this 
grace  in  the  Church,  in  spite  of  the  unworthy 
administrators ;  and  maintain  this  virtue  in  the 
Holy  Scriptures  in  spite  of  the  despicable 
character  of  the  Jew.  The  Jews  were  a  horde 
of  runaway  slaves  from  Egypt ;  and  the  word 
of  God's  power  seized  hold  on  them  and  raised 
them  to  the  dignity  of  a  free  and  independent 
nation.  In  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar  when  the 
ancient  Britons  were  naked  and  painted  sav- 
ages the  word  of  Grace  took  hold  of  them,  and 
raised  them  to  the  dignity  of  the  first  and  most 
powerful  empire  of  Modern  times. 

"Vox  populi"  is  not  necessarily  "Vox  Dei." 
The  purity  of  Christ's  Church  does  not  depend 
alone  upon  human  knowledge  or  human  ex- 
perience. A  Council  which  is  not  presided  by 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  not  a  proper  legislative  body 


66        THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

for  the  Church,  no  matter  how  great  may  be 
the  human  qualifications  of  its  members. 
Whereas  a  council,  thus  presided  and  guided 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  no  matter  how  humble  the 
human  qualifications  of  its  members,  will  pos- 
sess the  first  and  most  indispensable  requisite 
of  a  true  legislative  body  of  the  Church.  To 
know  to  what  assembly  of  men  the  Holy  Ghost 
will  be  given  as  Leader  and  Guide,  we  have 
only  to  reflect  on  these  words  of  inspiration : 
"God  resisteth  the  proud  but  giveth  grace  unto 
the  humble."  "Though  the  Lord  be  high,  yet 
hath  he  respect  unto  the  lowly :  but  the  proud 
be  knoweth  afar  off."  "For  thus  saith  the 
high  and  lofty  One  that  inhabiteth  eternity, 
whose  name  is  Holy :  'I  dwell  in  the  high  and 
holy  place,  with  him  also  that  is  of  a  contrite 
and  humle  spirit,  and  to  revive  the  heart  of  the 
contrite  ones."  Ah !  this  boast  of  Vox  Populi, 
and  this  demand  for  mere  human  qualifications 
show  that  the  human  rulers  in  the  Church 
have  descended  to  the  Laodicean  stage  of  the 
Christian  apostacy.  The  name  of  this  seventh 
Apocalyptic  Church  may  be  freely  translated : 
"popular  opinion,"  or  the  "whims  of  the  multi- 
tude." When  this  stage  is  reached  we  know 
that  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church  is  ready  to 
spue  such  an  ecclesiastical  organization  out  of 
his  mouth.  This  is  also  the  Babylonian  state 
of  the  Church,  as  we  may  gather  from  what 
occurred  at  the  building  of  the  tower  of  Babel. 
It  was  the  voice  of  the  people,  the  whim  of 
the  multitude  who  said :  "Go  to  let  us  build  us 
a  city  and  a  tower."  By  this  subtle  thread  of 
connection  between  the  name  of  the  seventh 
Apocalyptic  Church  and  this  popular  occur- 
rence on  the  plains  of  Shinar,  we  can  see  that 
the  Harlot  of  Babylon  and  the  Church  of 
Laodicea  are  identical.  Hence  everything  in- 
dicates that  Christendom  has  fully  entered 
upon  this  last  stage  of  its  downward  career. 

Race  Knowledge  and  Experience. 
Vox   Populi   assumes   the  place  of  Vox   Dei. 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL        67 

Let  me  say  here  by  way  of  parenthesis,  that 
the  hereditary  idiosyncracies  of  race  knowl- 
edge, race  experience  and  race  sentiment  might 
be  invoked  with  some  show  of  reason  when  it 
is  a  question  of  appointing  a  judge  on  the 
bench  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  United 
States ;  where  the  spirit  of  Anglo-Saxon  juris- 
prudence which  has  been  developing  for  more 
than  a  thousand  years  in  the  common  law  and 
statutory  enactments,  has  to  be  interpreted  and 
applied,  even  to  the  annulling  of  laws  enacted 
by  Congress  and  approved  by  the  President 
of  the  Nation.  Each  people  are  more  or  less 
justified  in  its  civil  administration  in  thus 
jealousy  guarding  its  peculiar  ancestral  tradi- 
tions. But  to  carry  such  an  exclusive  policy 
into  the  legislation  of  the  Church,  the  spirit  of 
whose  Canon  laws  is  the  amalgam  of  Greek 
and  Latin,  Asiatic  and  African  conciliar  legis- 
lation for  the  past  eighteen  hundred  years,  is  a 
proposition  that  is  pointless ;  for  it  has  not  the 
same  show  of  reason  even  from  a  merely  hu- 
man point  of  view.  TJie  Historic  glory  of  our 
Church,  impersonated  and  summed  up  in  the 
Episcopate  is  derived  from  the  amalgated 
testimony  of  Christians  of  every  race  through- 
out all  the  Gospel  centuries.  But  to  return 
from  this  digression.  I  have  exhorted  you  to 
hold  fast  to  the  Church  as  it  is  for  there  is 
still  virtue  in  it.  The  voice  has  not  yet  been 
uttered  from  Heaven  to  call  God's  people  out 
of  Babylon.  Let  every  man  therefore  stand  to 
his  post,  just  where  the  Providence  of  God  has 
placed  him,  in  obedience  to  the  Command  of 
our  Great  Head  who  told  us  to  occupy  until 
He  comes.  As  an  additional  reason  thus  to 
stand  by  our  guns,  I  wish  to  refer  to  the  pe- 
culiar connection  that  the  African  race  holds 
to  this  residue  of  virtue  in  the  Anglican 
Churches. 

The   Divine  parity  of   Bishops,  which  is   a 


68        THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

distinctive  point  in  their  discipline,  is  derived 
from  the  declaration  voiced  by  an  African 
P'ather  of  the.  Church,  Cyprian,  Bishop  of 
Carthage :  "Episcopatus  unus  est,  cujus  pars 
singulis  in  soldidum  tenetur."  It  was  by  this 
principle  announced  by  that  African  Father 
that  the  ancient  British  Bishops  resisted  the 
beginning  of  papal  usurpations  in  their  Island, 
in  response  to  the  pretensions  of  the  same, 
made  by  Augustine,  the  first  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  And  when  this  usurpation  had 
more  or  less  prevailed,  in  spite  of  this  original 
protest  of  the  British  Bishops,  it  was  by  the 
re-affirmation  of  this  same  principle  in  the  Six- 
teenth century,  by  the  English  Church,  that 
she  freed  herself  from  the  detestable  tyrrany 
of  the  Bishop  of  Rome.  So  much  then  for  this 
principle  to  prove  what  interest  the  African 
race  has  in  the  virtue  still  latent  in  the  Angli- 
can Churches.  Let  me  now  cite  another  fact 
which  will  go  to  prove  how  this  same  race  may 
extract  this  virtue  from  this  same  spiritual 
Mother  for  their  own  godly  nourishment.  The 
first  colored  man  ordained  in  the  Uniter  States 
was  the  Reverend  Absalom  Jones,  as  minister 
of  St.  Thomas'  Church,  Philadelphia.  He  was 
made  Deacon  by  Bishop  White.  I  think  there 
is  no  record  of  his  ever  having  been  ordained 
presbyter.  It  was  in  the  days  when  ignorance, 
as  black  as  night,  enveloped  our  poor,  op- 
pressed and  down-trodden  race.  This  Deacon 
was  not  much  above  the  mass  of  his  brethren 
in  intelligence.  He  had  no  definite  idea  of  the 
range  of  his  ministerial  powers. 

Circumstantial  Episcopate. 
Hence  in  his  simplicity,  with  a  heart  full  of 
brotherly  love,  at  the  call  of  the  African 
Methodists  he  assumed  to  lay  hands  on  and  set 
apart  the  first  Bishop  of  that  Connection ; 
forming  thus  what  one  of  the  present  succes- 
sors of  that  first  Bishop  has  called  a  Provi- 
dential  or   Circumstantial    Episcopate,   in   dis- 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL        69 

tinction  from  the  Historic  Episcopate  derived 
from  the  first  Apostles.  From  this  beginning, 
in  1816,  we  have  seen  two  large  and  flourish- 
ing bodies  of  African  Methodists  springing  up 
in  the  Northern  States  which  are  now  rapidly 
extending  in  the  Southern  States  ;  and  jointly 
numbering  more  than  twenty  of  those  Circum- 
stantial or  emergency  Bishops,  with  Confer- 
ences and  General  Conferences,  Book-Con- 
cerns, Missionary  societies,  weekly  journals, 
and  a  quarterly  Review ;  and  by  the  Spirit  of 
God  vouchsafed  to  them,  governing  themselves 
and  administering  their  affairs  as  creditably  as 
the  white  Methodists  under  their  Circum- 
stancial  Episcopate,  derived  from  a  presbyter 
of  the  Church  of  England.  This  they  have 
done  now  for  more  than  seventy  years,  with- 
out any  active  co-operation  from  their  white 
co-religionists.  Now,  my  point  is  this :  if  all 
this  virtue  has  come  from  an  ignorant,  black 
deacon  of  our  Church  acting  in  such  an  irregu- 
lar manner ;  how  much  more  virtue  may  we 
not  expect  to  derive  from  this  spiritual  Mother 
for  the  future  elevation  of  our  race  by  acting 
in  a  regular  manner  under  the  full  plenitude  of 
her  Ministerial  powers?  We  can  only  enjoy 
the  plenitude  of  this  benediction  by  firmly  re- 
solving to  remain  within  her  fold  until  the 
Great  Master  at  His  Advent  calls  us  to  come 
out  from  thence.  And  it  is  well  for  us  to  bear 
in  mind  that  the  day  for  the  full  and  final 
deliverance  of  our  race,  from  political  and  ec- 
clesiastical thraldom  will  not  dawn  for  us  until 
that  Great  Event  takes  place.  The  Mosaic  dis- 
pensation was  Semitic.  The  Gospel  dispen- 
sation is  principally  Japhetic.  But  the  Mil- 
lenial  dispensation  will  be  Hamitic.  In  the 
words  of  the  Prayer  Book-version  of  the 
Psalms  :  "When  God  shall  scatter  the  nations 
that  delight  in  war,  then  shall  Princes  come 
out  of  Egypt,  and  the  Morians  land  (Ethiopia) 
shall  soon   stretch  out  her  hands   unto   God." 


70        THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

This  will  be  the  moment  for  the  political  and 
ecclesiastical  deliverance  of  the  African  race. 
It  will  take  place  when  the  King  of  kings  and 
Lord  of  lords  shall  have  scattered  the  nations 
which  delight  in  war.     These  are  emphatically 
the  Japhetic  nations,  nominally  Christians,  but 
armed  at  this  moment  to  the  teeth  to  destroy 
one  another  in  defiance  of  the  Gospel  which 
they  profess  to  believe  whose  first  sentence  is 
"Glory  to   God   in   the  highest  and   on   Earth 
peace  and  good  will  towards  men.7'     Then  that 
race  whose  son  carried  the  Savior's  cross,  while 
the  Semitic  and  Japhetic  races  united  to  crucify 
Him,  will  wear  the  Dispensational  Crown ;  be- 
ing also  the  race,  which  in  the  person  of  the 
Ethiopian  eunuch,  furnished  the  first  convert 
of  pure  Gentile  blood  (though  a  Jewish  prose- 
lyte) and  who  hastened  to  stretch  out  his  hand 
to   God,  when  Philip  drew  near  to  him ;  and 
even  to  ask  himself  for  Christian  Baptism !  The 
Lord  is  at  hand !     He  is  now  knocking  at  the 
door  of  the  Laodicean  Church.     Let  us  stand 
in  our  places  and  heed  the  exhortation  which 
He  addresses  to  all  therein.     Thus  we  shall  be 
prepared  to  fulfil  our  mission  in  His  Kingdom 
soon  to  be  established  on  this  earth.     He  was 
buffeted  and  spit  upon  in  the  presence  of  the 
Chief  Ecclesiastics  at  His  First  Advent.     He 
supported  all  patiently.     If  we  would  be  like 
Him  and  have  part  with  Him  in  His  Kingdom, 
we  must  show  the  like  patience  under  injuries. 
I  am  speaking  of  our  spiritual  relations,  I  have 
no  mission  to  give  advice  in  political  matters, 
further  than  due  submission  to  the  powers  that 
be.     The  condition  of  servitude  meted  out  to 
our   race   for   four   thousand   years,    since   the 
days  of  Noah,  has  been  our  training  for  great- 
ness in  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

Greatness  In  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
It  has  indeed  been  our  reproach  during  this 
domineering  period  ofthe  Semitic  and  Japhetic 
Gentiles.  But  it  will  be  no  longer  so  in  Christ's 


THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL        71 

Kingdom.  For  he  that  has  fully  imbibed  the 
spirit  of  being  the  servant  of  all  shall  be  the 
greatest  of  all  therein.  The  Master  has  given 
us  that  assurance.  And  He  illustrated  what 
kind  of  service  He  meant  at  the  Last  Supper, 
by  serving  at  Table  Himself,  and  by  washing 
His  disciples  feet  after  Supper.  This  is  the 
kind  of  service  in  which  we  have  been  trained 
and  so  far  as  it  has  been  followed  in  the  right 
spirit,  we  cannot  doubt  what  will  be  our  great 
reward  when  the  war-like  Japhetic  nations 
shall  be  dashed  in  pieces  at  His  coming! 
Hence,  I  would  exhort  you  against  anything 
like  a  schismatic  spirit. 

The  Semitic  and  Japhetic  nations  are  es- 
sentially schismatical.  They  divide  all  their 
religions  up  into  sects,  and  schools  of  thought 
and  ecclesiastical  parties.*  Our  contact  with 
them  has  produced  similar  divisions  amongst 
us.  But  it  is  not  a  religious  peculiarity  innate 
in  the  African  mind.  There  is  a  unity  in  the 
dead  level  of  African  fetichism.  The  unity  in 
the  truth  for  which  the  Savior  prayed  so  earn- 
estly after  Supper  and  before  He  went  forth  to 
His  Agony  in  the  Garden,  will  come  forth 
from  beneath  this  dead  level  of  error  as  the 
glad  response  at  last,  to  His  earnest  prayer, 
when  the  Spirit  of  God  shall  sweep  over  the 
valley  of  African  dry  bones  around  the  Congo, 
on  the  Niger  and  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Paul ; 
when  He  shall  come  in  His  glory !  I  take  the 
liberty  of  sending  you  this  exhortation  to 
steadfastness,  as  your  simple  fellow  servant  in 
the  tribulations  of  the  same  race. 


*We  have  now  a  sad  example  of  this  schismatic 
spirit  in  the  Church  of  England  by  the  persistent 
obstinacy  of  two  parties  who  have  set  in  motion 
the  dusty  and  creaking  machinery  of  an  Ecclesiastical 
Judiciary  which  had  lain  unused,  exposed  to  the 
mildew  for  two  centuries,  to  the  great  scandal  of 
Christianity  thereby  made  a  laughing  stock  for  out- 
lying heathendom!  The  bone  of  this  angry  conten- 
tion  being  a  couple  of  lighted  candles. 


72         THE  FIRST  ON  SOUTHERN  SOIL 

I  have  no  title  to  address  you  any  otherwise. 
And  I  beg  you  to  communicate  it  in  the  same 
sense  to  your  colleagues  who  signed  that  pro- 
test with  you.  I  pray  God  to  bless  what  I 
have  said  to  confirm  and  fortify  each  one  of 
you  to  do  your  duty  in  the  place  where  He  in 
His  Providence,  has  been  pleased  to  call  you. 
Meanwhile, 

I  am,  Rev.  and  Dear  Mr.  Bragg, 
Your  Fellow  Servant  in  Christ, 
JAMES  THEODORE  HOLEY. 

Bishop  Holly  was  in  error  with  respect  to  Absa- 
lom j  ones  not  having  been  ordained  to  the  Priest- 
hood. Bishop  White  reported  him  as  having  been 
elevated  to  Priesthood  in  1804. — The  Author. 


The  Prayer  of  Bishop   Holly  in  Westminster 

Abbey. 

"O,  Thou  Savior  Christ,  Son  of  the  Living 
God,  who  when  Thou  was  spurned  by  the  Jews 
of  the  race  of  Shem,  and  who,  when  delivered 
up  without  cause  by  the  Romans  of  the  race  of 
Japheth,  on  the  day  of  thy  ignominious  cruci- 
fixion, hadst  Thy  ponderous  cross  borne  to 
Golgotha's  summit  on  the  stalwart  shoulders  of 
Simon  the  Cyrenian,  of  the  race  of  Ham,  I 
pray  Thee,  O  precious  Savior,  remember  that 
forlorn,  despised,  and  rejected  race,  whose  son 
thus  bore  Thy  cross,  when  Thou  shalt  come  in 
the  power  and  majesty  of  thy  eternal  Kingdom 
to  distribute  Thy  crowns  of  everlasting  glory. 

"And  give  to  me  then,  not  a  place  at  Thy 
right  hand  or  at  Thy  left,  but  only  the  place 
of  a  gatekeeper  at  the  entrance  of  the  Holy 
City,  the'  new  Jerusalem,  that  I  may  behold 
my  redeemed  brethren,  the  saved  of  the  Lord, 
entering  therein  to  be  partakers  with  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob  of  all  the  joys  of  Thy  glorious 
and  everlasting  Kingdom !" 


